Support services initiatives

Dr. Stites is on vacation and has asked me give you an update on some efforts underway in Support Services. We have many projects going right now, and I'd like to share some thoughts about two of them with you. I believe these are both projects that will improve the quality of service we provide to faculty, staff and students on the KUMC campus.

In the month of September, we conducted an employee engagement survey of staff in Support Services departments. The survey is designed to gauge employees' job satisfaction and the support they experience in performing their jobs. We will use this information to identify areas of improvement in how Support Services employees are supported and developed. I believe that a highly functioning, engaged workforce will provide higher quality products and service to our customers.

Last Thursday and Friday, a group of managers, representing each of the Support Services departments and Student Services, attended a regional conference of the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Improvement Program, a division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Baldrige program is a tested, proven program for improving the way organizations function. In Support Services and Student Services, we are beginning to implement the Baldrige principles, which ultimately focus on improving results in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. As we learned from Baldrige award winners, who presented at the conference, this is a long journey. It is, however, a journey that will result in continuously improving service to the campus and will make KUMC an ever-increasingly great place to be.

My goal is to have high performing, enthusiastic people working in Support Services. And that, I believe, will result in exceptional service being provided to you - KUMC's faculty, staff and students. I am confident that we all want KUMC to be a world class institution. These efforts are Support Services' contributions toward that goal. We look forward to working with you and to serving your needs. 

The KU School of Medicine has earned an achievement award from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The award recognizes our efforts to foster student interest in family medicine and produce graduates who enter the specialty. Based on a three-year average, for the period ending October 2011, 15.4 percent of KU School of Medicine graduates have entered an ACGME-accredited family medicine residency program. This classifies us as one of the top 10 schools in the nation for producing family medicine physicians.

Michael Czervinske, RRT-NPS, a clinical instructor in the Department of Respiratory Care Education, has been selected as a Fellow of the American Association for Respiratory Care. The 2012 Fellows will be formally inducted and will receive their certificates and pins at the AARC's 58th International Respiratory Congress in New Orleans on Nov. 11.

Tracie Collins, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the School of Medicine-Wichita, was named president of the Midwest Region of the Society of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Collins will be responsible for oversight of society activities and will lead planning for next year’s annual meeting.

Nominations for the 20th annual "Nursing:The Heart of Healthcare" awards program are now being accepted. The program recognizes outstanding registered nurses in Kansas and metropolitan Kansas City for their dedication to patient care, their communities and the nursing profession. The KU School of Nursing coordinates this prestigious awards program as a public service. Nominations are accepted until Sept. 30, 2012, and nomination forms can be found at www.HOHCawards.com.