VTH Board Minutes 12/5/2019

Updates: Info Only

Personnel

• The search for the Assistant Dean for Budget and Business Operations was successful and the position will be filled starting in January.
• Searches are being launched for the Assistant/Associate Directors of the college service centers that are either vacant or interim

Facilities

• See Update document

Programs

• The VTH has officially ended its contract with StringSoft.  Recently, Vetstar notified all its users that it was ready to begin its launch of its new platform SANDI.  This platform provides us with many of the features we were seeking in a new HIS.  The plan for roll-out is over the next 4 quarters (see letter from Vetstar – Vetstar SANDI launch and VTH plan).  We are working on the first steps which includes updates to the broadcast screens and unifying the log-on with netid.  As Vetstar is a current vendor of the VTH, we can spend up money on maintenance and improvements up to a designated amount.  The working team plans to determine what upgrades can be done within the next 6 months before determining if there is a need to launch another RFP to select a different vendor.

3:00 Financial Updates 

P and L for VTH operations and summary sheet

Revenue for October was high and year to date revenue is favorable. Revenue for November is down significantly from what we budgeted.  Expenses exceed those from year to date last year, some of which were expected due to approved expenditures. 

The VTH has committed a significant sum from operations towards projects making close monitoring of expenses a priority.

Banner data for service case load and revenue was distributed.

Student Guidelines

SAVMA delegates adopted guidelines for student engagement on clinical services and the UI students coordinated a petition to induce the VTH into adopting them.  The VCM Dept. was tasked with addressing these guidelines in its policy.  A draft policy was sent to services for feedback:

• There is broad consensus that many of the guidelines are followed already and that faculty are generally very accommodating of student needs when made aware of them.
• It is the faculty’s job to teach resiliency and making students advocate for themselves is part of that process.
• The guidelines should be general in order for them to be applicable across services.
• Rotations should start at 8:00 AM the first day of the rotation for clinical year students.
• The responsibility for development of these policies is the office overseeing the course, which is ASA in this case.

ACTION ITEM: JW revised policy to reflect the feedback above.  Will return to VCM Dept. for distribution to students.

rDVM Communication Plan

The RDVM Communications Working Group has proposed 3 measures to improve communication with referring veterinarians.  See Working Team Recommendations.

1. Create a daily update summary form to be sent out each day to the RDV for each hospitalized patient.

Discussion – the board members were skeptical that this would get done and that it was redundant since rvets are already notified automatically by fax that one of their patient’s has been admitted.

2. Provide the client with a brief release/discharge form at time of discharge.  Copy sent to Rvet.

Discussion – the board members were in support of this measure and believe that the document should be very short; including working diagnosis, medication dispensed, and follow-up instructions.  This will provide the clients with instructions in writing, and will let the rvet know what the client was told.  It also gives the rvet an indication that the patient was discharged and a complete report will be coming.  Board members felt that the client discharge form could be the first section of the final discharge report, which would then be completed after the patient was discharged and sent to the rvet once finalized.  

3. Create a policy for communication with Rvets

Discussion was had about a reasonable timeframe for discharge reports to be finalized.  Board members were concerned about finalizing reports that still had lab results pending.  Natalie made the suggestion that a Lab Pending report could be created.  The clinician could use the form to indicate which lab tests were pending and it would be kept as a draft so that Medical Records could run a report as a prompt.  Then the discharge report could be finalized and sent to the rvet without concern that follow-up with lab results would get overlooked.

Board members also requested that the VTH work to establish a DVM portal in Vetstar.

Board members were in support of requiring discharge reports being finalized and sent to rvets within 72 hours.

Board members were in support of limiting the contents of discharge reports but only if clinicians were able to open multiple windows in the HIS at a time.

ACTION ITEM: JW will bring this feedback to Michelle Jaeger for the working group.

Social Media 

Discussion regarding the posting of images on social media that depict client owned or University owned animals is occurring at the College level.   The board members are in agreement that the VTH’s stand is that no individual (student, staff, or faculty) is allowed to post any image containing all or part of any animal, alive or deceased, on any social media format that is not directly overseen by the College.  If an individual has an image that is of interest to a broader audience, the individual is encouraged to contact the College media office or other administrative contact (e.g. WMC Director).  ACTION ITEM: JW will pass this opinion on to the Senior Leadership Group.

VTH Reorg

Currently, the VTH Business Office consists of representatives from the Finance Office and from the College’s Business Services Center.  Additionally, the storekeepers report to Facilities.  There is no direct accountability to the VTH.  A plan to reorganize the VTH administration was discussed.  The new reporting line would give direct oversight of VTH operations.  The Board members were in support of this plan.  See Org Chart

Additional discussion ensued that the VTH Board believes that MWE and VMSC should be included in the VTH with those faculty and services housed in the appropriate sections.  The consensus decision was the MDVC would remain separate primarily due to its remote location.  There was support for the Directors of the VTH, VDL, and MDVC to form a Clinical Services Counsel with direct reporting to the Dean.  ACTION ITEMS: JW will ask for agenda time to place proposal before the VCM faculty

Clothing Policy

The Board was reminded that a clothing policy was proposed some time ago but was never finalized.  The Board members were in favor of adopting a policy that prohibited the wearing of clothing representing another institution or company when working with clients.  There was also discussion regarding limiting the wearing of potentially hazardous accessories (e.g. hoop earrings, rings, etc.)  ACTION ITEM: JW will draft a policy and confirm with University legal that it is appropriate.