By UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH

The University of Texas Medical Branch has achieved “Senior Friendly” status for its Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders program. The program is the leading nurse driven program designed to help hospitals and health care organizations improve the care of patients 65 and older. The “Senior Friendly” status recognizes UTMB’s dedication to providing sensitive and exemplary care to older adult patients. UTMB’s Acute Care for Elderly unit opened in 2000 and is specifically designed with the care of elderly in mind. UTMB is the only hospital in the Texas Medical Center to be designated a NICHE facility.

CMC employees speak at national conference

Several UTMB Correctional Managed Care employees presented educational sessions at the 2015 National Conference on Correctional Health Care in Dallas. Dr. Joseph Penn, director of Mental Health Services, presented “An In-Depth Look at NCCHC’s 2015 Standards for Health Services in Juvenile Facilities,” as well as “Medical Conditions that Present as Psychiatric in Nature.”
Beverly Sloan, senior mental health manager, Estelle Unit, presented “Continual Process Improvement: Identifying Mental Illness at Intake.” Cynthia Myers, mental health manager, Dominguez Unit, and John Tejada, mental health manager, Connally Unit, presented “Addressing Self-Injurious and Suicidal Behavior Through Use of a Suicide Risk Assessment.” Kelly Naramore, mental health manager, Hodge Unit, presented “Assessing and Addressing the Needs of Prison Inmates with Developmental Disabilities.”

You’ve got to have heart

Staff members in UTMB’s Echocardiography Laboratory celebrated Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month in October. The Echo Lab has been at the forefront of technology in ultrasound, performing more than 10,000 procedures a year, including transthoracic, transesophageal and stress echocardiography.Under the direction of the medical director, Dr. Masood Ahmad, the team has performed, presented and published pioneering work in 3-D echocardiography. At the most recent national meeting of the American Society of Echocardiography, the UTMB team presented “Dynamic Three Dimensional Strain during Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography in Detection of Ischemia.”

Of historical note

Some milestones as UTMB marks its 125th anniversary: In 1917, the Medical Department, as UTMB was then called, raised entrance standards to require two years of college, up from four years of high school.