First Oral PCA Device Ready For Inpatient Use

ORMOND BEACH — AVANCEN announced the MOD®, the first patient controlled oral PCA device for as-needed (PRN) pain medications, is ready for inpatient use with sales now occurring to hospitals nationwide. The MOD®, a simple to use oral PCA device delivers up to eight doses of oral medication in a safe and secure manner at the patient’s bedside using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and wireless Bluetooth® technology. The MOD® is a drug delivery device that allows patients to self-administer their own oral pain medication.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requires hospitals to collect pain level information both before and after pain medication has been dispensed. The MOD® will become a useful tool to assist hospitals in meeting pain management requirements and standards. It is the only device on the market that requires a patient to input their pain level prior to acquiring their oral pain medication. Nurses can query the MOD® memory at their convenience to obtain a patient’s pain score and time of dose administration for each dose. This information can then be documented into the patient’s medical record.

Patients routinely have to wait to receive pain medications while nurses are busy providing other care duties. JCAHO estimates that
U.S. hospitals today are operating with more than 126,000 unfilled nursing positions. According to the U.S. Department of Labor there will be a shortage of 800,000 nurses by 2020.

The results of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored clinical trial evaluating the MOD® were recently published in the October 2007 issue of the Journal of Supportive Oncology. For more information about the MOD®, leasing/purchase programs, or AVANCEN, visit www.avancen.com.

Neurosurgeon Ara Deukmedjian, Member of PMC Medical Staff, Appointed to UCF Medical School Faculty

TITUSVILLE — Neurosurgeon Dr. Ara Jason Deukmedjian, a member of the Parrish Medical Center Medical Staff was recently appointed to the faculty of the University of Central Florida (UCF), College of Medicine, in the Department of Medical Education as Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery.

Deukmedjian will be responsible for: Presenting lectures, leading group sessions and demonstrating skills to first and second year students; Serving as preceptor, clinical role model and medical resource to first and second year students; Providing instruction in the core clerkships and electives for third and fourth year students; Mentoring students by sharing real-life experiences, demonstrating professionalism and providing moral support and encouragement; and Serving actively on select academic advisory committees.

Deukmedjian joined the Parrish Medical Center medical staff in 2004. Prior to that he was on staff at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida. He has earned several distinguished academic awards, authored numerous medical journal articles, is a member of NASA’s Space Flight Medical Team, and has also taught courses to medical students at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he received his medical degree, with a “Highest Distinction” award.

Wuesthoff Medical Center Melbourne Physician performs Percutaneous Aortic Stent Graph procedures for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm patients

BREVARD COUNTY — Wuesthoff Medical Center Melbourne physician, Dr. Irfan Imami, is one of the only physicians in the Central Florida area to perform percutaneous aortic stent graph surgeries for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) patients.

Additionally, according to healthcare professionals, the demand for AAA procedures will most likely increase due to recent Medicare changes approving the cost for ‘seniors’ to have preventative abdominal ultrasound screenings

“With the potential increase in abdominal aortic aneurysm procedures, there’s a need toperform the surgeries less invasively,” said Dr. Irfan R. Imami, vascular surgeon on staff at Wuesthoff Medical Center Melbourne. “By performing percutaneous aortic stentgraphs for AAA’s, the patient undergoes surgery in the catheterization lab under local,versus general anesthesia; surgery is normally completed within an hour, and the patient is then released from the hospital the following day.”

Imami added, “Since percutaneous surgery calls for such a small incision in the abdomen, we minimize complications from ‘open’ groin exposure surgery.”

AAA’s are caused by a weakening and abnormal enlargement of the aorta, the major artery which carries blood from the heart to the lower body. According to Imami, the cause of this type of aneurysm is largely unknown, but is suggested to be caused by hereditary issues and additional risk factors. Additionally, he says if the aorta bursts, the odds of survival are less than one in five.

2007 New Hires & Promotions

The following people have been hired or promoted at Florida Hospital Memorial System, which encompasses Florida Hospital Flagler, Florida Hospital Oceanside and Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial: Valerie Villar to director of Accounting, Paul Hoover to director of Cancer Care; Joanne Magley to director of Marketing & Public Relations; David Santos to chief development officer for Florida Hospital Memorial Foundation; Rob Rothman to development officer of major gifts for Florida Hospital Memorial Foundation; Dennis Mazza to director of Information Systems; Connie Schott to director of Human Resources; and Katrina Collins to director of Patient Access.

The following people have been hired or promoted at Florida Hospital Ormond Memorial and/or Florida Hospital Oceanside: Margo Sartory to Surgical Nursing Unit nurse manager; Bonnie Shawl to director of Cardiovascular Services; Rebecca Vernon to director for Birth Care Services; and Sandra Lynch to director of the Center for Senior Behavioral Health.

The following people have been hired or promoted at Florida Hospital Flagler: Nancy DeWalt to director of Inpatient Services; Nancy Bakewell to director of Emergency Services; Susan Kelly to manager of Same Day Surgery; Annette Estrada to supervisor of Outpatient and Support Services, Laboratory; and Jo Wolfson to third floor nurse manager; Grisel Nieves to second floor nurse manager.

Wuesthoff Medical Center Melbourne receives Melbourne-Palm Bay Area Chamber of Commerce 2007 Best Business Award

BREVARD — The Melbourne-Palm Bay Area Chamber of Commerce recently announced Wuesthoff Medical Center Melbourne as one of their 2007 Best Business Award Winners.

Announced at the Chamber’s Annual Gala event held recently at the Crown Plaza Melbourne Oceanfront hotel, Wuesthoff Medical
Center Melbourne was chosen as a best business award winner for the ‘over 500’ employee category.

To qualify for the Chamber of Commerce best business award, organizations must be locally operated and in business for a minimum of two years; and an active member in good standing with the Melbourne-Palm Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. Wuesthoff Melbourne was chosen as this year’s best business award recipient for their outstanding benefits to employees, community involvement, personnel practices, customer service, innovative ideas which have been developed and instituted, philanthropy, and civic/charitable and chamber involvement.

Florida Hospital Rehabilitation Patients Celebrate Independence

The room had a current of excitement running through it. All around were tables with special placards announcing a specific year: 1991, 2003, and 2007. Friends recognized one another across the room and moved toward each other to say hello and remark on how well the other looks.

You’d think we were describing a high school reunion. No, this reunion is far more important. It’s a celebration of independence from the effects of a disabling stroke or hip replacement or other condition requiring complex rehabilitation of the body and spirit.

Every year Florida Hospital Oceanside’s Peninsula Rehabilitation Center celebrates success stories at a reunion of those who have graduated from the rehab program. Approximately 200 individuals return each year to see staff and friends they made while working through the intense program of rehabilitation. This year’s annual reunion was held on September 20th and approximately 100 Peninsula Rehabilitation Center patients came together at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach to celebrate their independence.

Florida Hospital DeLand Receives Grant for New CPR Training Equipment and Community Classes

DELAND — Florida Hospital DeLand’s Education Department is pleased to announce the receipt of a generous grant from Heart of Volusia, Inc. in the amount of $2,981 for the purchase of new Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training equipment.

“This grant has given us the ability to replace our aging CPR training mannequins and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) simulators in order to better serve our employees, patients and community members,” said Florida Hospital DeLand Education Department Manager Marilyn Leistner, RN, MN, OCRN.

The new equipment will be used for hospital-based Basic Life Support (BLS) classes for clinical employees who are certified to respond to patients in cardiopulmonary arrest.

In addition, Florida Hospital DeLand will offer American Heart Association “Friends and Family” CPR classes to the community beginning on February 1, 2008. The class is free to the community; however, there is a nominal book fee of $5.00. Classes will be held periodically throughout the year for up to 12 community members per class. To register for a class or to find our schedule, please call (386) 943-4770.

Florida Hospital Altamonte Doubles in Size with New Six-Story Sanctuary of Healing

Florida Hospital Altamonte is expanding to continue to meet the growing needs of the community with a new six-story patient tower that will increase access to healthcare for Seminole County residents.

The $70 million tower at Florida Hospital Altamonte, a sanctuary of healing that focuses on whole-person care, adds 72 new patient beds and two shelled patient floors for future expansion, doubling the size of the current hospital. The expansion features Florida Hospital’s new patient room models that better enhance the patient experience, in addition to a new chapel and healing garden.

The new tower and the IOA Atrium, the main lobby at Florida Hospital Altamonte that recognizes the generosity of John and Valli Ritenour of Insurance Office of America (IOA), will open in early December 2007.

The tower will feature 72 private and spacious rooms that will provide added comfort and extra amenities for patients and visitors in a unique healing environment. The new lobby will better accommodate the needs of a growing number of visitors and will feature a new chapel and healing gardens, which will provide for the emotional and spiritual needs of the hospital’s patients and visitors.

In addition, the expansion includes the consolidation of and easy access to cardiology diagnostic services, including electrocardiograms (EKGs), Echocardiograms (ECHOs), stress tests, and nuclear medicine.

Florida Hospital Altamonte opened its new 30,000-square-foot, 37-bed Emergency Department (ED) in November 2006, tripling the size of the its previous ED. The not-for-profit hospital will complete its four-year expansion project by the end of 2008, with the opening of its new state-of-the-art surgical suites. These new operating rooms, equipped with the most sophisticated technology, will help retain and attract the most skilled surgeons to Seminole County.

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children Receives Medal of Honor for Organ Donation

ORLANDO — Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and TransLife recently received a medal of honor from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for achieving and sustaining an organ donation rate of 75 percent or higher. This is the second consecutive year that Arnold Palmer Hospital has received this award.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services presented awards to 392 of the nation’s largest hospitals during the Third National Learning Congress on Organ Donation and Transplantation in Nashville, Tennessee. Since launching the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative in 2003 by the HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration, the number of hospitals achieving the 75 percent rate has soared from 55 – 392.

Arnold Palmer Hospital is the only hospital in TransLife’s 10 county service area that includes 38 hospitals, to receive this award.

Donors ‘Pay it Forward’ in Paired Donor Transplant, a First at Florida Hospital Transplant Center

Recently at Florida Hospital Transplant Center, Titusville resident Shirley Kopinski received a kidney from Ohio resident Melissa Miller. At the same exact time, Melissa’s mother was receiving a kidney from another donor 1,000 miles away at Ohio State University. These donations were made possible through a relatively new concept in organ donation — the paired donor transplant.

Paired donation occurs when a patient who needs an organ has a donor, but they do not match. The incompatible pair is entered into a database of others, where doctors can then match them with another pair in a similar situation – basically, the pairs swap donors.
According to www.paireddonation.org, “…paired donation will one day allow for an additional 3,000 living donor renal [kidney] transplants per year in America.”

Shirley is recovering and spending the holidays with her family that includes six children, 13 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren! As a result of her transplant this morning, Shirley’s daughter Ethel, who was not a match to her mother, will act as a bridge donor and ‘pay it forward’ to another patient in need of a kidney.

This marks the first time Florida Hospital Transplant Center has performed a paired donor transplant and the first time an institution in Florida has performed a paired donation with another state.

AEDs Donated to Local High School

Local electrophysiologist, Dr. Peter Taylor, in conjunction with St. Jude Medical, donates three automated external defibrillators (AED) to Windermere Preparatory High School. Dr. Peter Taylor is associated with Mid-Florida Cardiology Specialists.

Although Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death among adults over the age of 40, approximately 10% of SCA events occur in young, seemingly healthy individuals. SCA in young adults can be caused by lethal cardiac abnormalities or by a blunt blow to the chest.

SCA is when the heart suddenly stops pumping, entering into a lethal arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation (VF). VF occurs when the lower chambers of the heart contract in a rapid, unsynchronized way, pumping little or no blood through the body. Consciousness is lost and death can occur in as little as four minutes if left untreated. Victims of SCA can be treated with external defibrillation. Survival rate is high when defibrillation is administered within four to seven minutes. The Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is a computerized device which reads the heart rhythm of an individual and then advises its operator whether a shock is required. Having an AED close by, victims of SCA can be provided with immediate care to prevent death.

Florida Hospital Welcomes New Neurologist

ORLANDO — Florida Hospital is pleased to welcome Dr. Alicia Cabrera Castelao to its medical staff. Cabrera joins Dr. Arnaldo Isa, Dr. William Honeycutt, Dr. Michael Brown, and Dr. Daniel Nieves at Neurology Associates, PA.

Cabrera received her medical degree in 1994 from the “Instituto Superior de Ciencias Medicas de Villa Clara” in Santa Clara, Cuba. She also completed her Neurology residency at the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, and in 1998 she started as the Attending Neurologist at the International Center of Neurological Rehabilitation, both in Havana, Cuba. Cabrera completed her Internal Medicine Internship in New York at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital and then began her Neurology training at Louisiana State University. After Hurricane Katrina hit the area, she transferred to Duke University where she completed her training in June 2007.

Nemours Signs Contract For Lake Nona Site

ORLANDO — Nemours has signed a contract to purchase an approximately 118-acre parcel of land in the Lake Nona area off of Boggy Creek Road, south of State Road 417, on which to build a top tier integrated pediatric health care system that will be anchored by the Nemours Children’s Hospital Orlando. The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) approved Nemours’ Certificate of Need (CON) application in June 2007 that set forth a comprehensive plan for conducting clinical research, graduate medical education, allied health training, and specialty clinical services delivered through a pediatric hospital, comprehensive specialty clinic and an ambulatory diagnostic services center.

The Nemours site, situated within immediate proximity to Lake Nona Boulevard, future home of the Burnham Medical Research Institute, UCF Burnett College of Medicine and Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital, will help Nemours to effectively partner with all entities of the proposed medical and bio medical research community. By securing this property, Nemours is one step closer to creating a fully integrated pediatric health care system for the children of Central Florida.

Nemours selected this particular site because it provides the appropriate size, space and location for the non-profit enterprise’s comprehensive mission while allowing the organizational control necessary to fulfill obligations outlined in the state of Florida’s CON application.

Marilee Jacobs Joins Staff at Crown Shredding

Crown Shredding announces their most recent hire of Marilee Jacobs. Marilee’s most recent success was with Silver Stage Productions of Dallas, Tx. She is married with two children and is currently living in Central Florida. She will be the Crown Shredding Sales Manager for the Orlando Metro area. Her responsibilities will include prospecting, sales, and marketing. Her past successes and experiences are sure to help Crown Shredding grow and service their current customer base.

South Lake Hospital Now Offers new 64 Slice CT Scanning

South Lake Hospital now offers patients access to the most advanced multi-slice computer tomography (CT) system by recently installing the Aquilion 64 from Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc.

The new 64 slice CT scanner can capture precise images in any area of the body in as little as a ten second breath-hold. Chest exams, which may take 20-30 minutes with a standard CT scanner, can now be performed in just 19 seconds with images that allow physicians to see internal injuries and disease in greater detail than before.

“With the 64 slice CT scanner, our physicians can see more anatomical information, which means we can diagnose problems like blood clots, infections and cancer in greater detail and with more clarity,” said Elana Williams, manager of the Diagnostic Imaging department at South Lake Hospital.

Another benefit of the new scanner is that it features a highly efficient ceramic material that is able to reduce the overall radiation exposure to patients and hospital staff. The system also accommodates the scanning of both larger and taller patients with the ability to expand its field-of-view to accommodate specific patient sizes and clinical needs.

While CT uses X-ray technology, it is distinguished from other diagnostic imaging tools like traditional X-ray and MRI by its ability to display a combination of soft tissue (like muscles, tissue, organs and fat), bones and blood vessels in a single image. Clinicians perform CT scans to diagnose kidney, lung, liver, spine, cancer, tumors and cysts, as well as blood clots, hemorrhages and infections.

New Online Pre-Registration Designed to Save Patients’ Time

Patients at Leesburg Regional Medical Center (LRMC) and The Villages Regional Hospital (TVRH) now have a convenient alternative to registering for inpatient stays or outpatient procedures using an online, pre-registration service.

“Online pre-registration is a wonderful option for patients who have upcoming appointments at either hospital,” says Katherine Fox, point of service admitting manager at LRMC. “The advantage of this new service is that patients can register from the comfort of their own home, and should reduce their wait time when they come to the hospital.”

Pre-registration is accessed through the hospitals’ website at www.leesburgregional.org or www.tvrh.org. The online, pre-registration option is available to patients who register for a hospital stay at least two days before their scheduled stay.

To pre-register, patients will need their physician’s order, their insurance card(s) and personal information. The form was designed to be easily completed, but if patients have questions while completing the form they can call the pre-registration call center at the number which is clearly posted on the form.

Once the form is completed, the information is sent to the Pre-Registration Unit that sets up the official registration in the hospital information system. A member of the hospital admitting staff calls the patient to confirm and finalize the registration process. When patients arrive at the hospital, they simply present their identification, insurance cards and sign consent forms to complete the process.

Local Infertility Clinic Makes World History and Gives One Patient “Best Christmas Present Ever”

ORLANDO — Christmas came early this year for local resident, Marta Lagoueyte, 37, who is the world’s first reported twin pregnancy following a robotic surgery to remove uterine fibroids. Lagoueyte and her husband had been trying to conceive for more than a year when they found local infertility clinic Center for Reproductive Medicine (CRM), who helped Lagoueyte’s dream of starting a family come true.

CRM physician and pioneering infertility specialist, Dr. Samuel E. Brown, performed the robotic fibroid removal on Lagoueyte earlier this year and simultaneously became the first infertility surgeon in the state of Florida to perform such a procedure.

Since tests determined the couple had a need for infertility treatment, Lagoueyte underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) shortly following the pioneering surgery. After a two year struggle to conceive and the loss of an ovary, Lagoueyte and her husband finally got the news they had been longing for. Not only was the treatment a success on the very first attempt, but Lagoueyte was also pregnant with twins.

Dr. Samuel E. Brown is a Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist at the Center for Reproductive Medicine (CRM) in Orlando, Florida



January 2008