VTH Board Minutes 7/27/23

Updates: Info Only

Personnel Updates

• Farrier interviews being conducted.
• Clinical Staff Pharmacist – interviews scheduled
• Welcome Joel Agate – Advancement Gift Officer – started 7/24
• Faculty updates –
  • Departmental review = we have hired 24 new faculty since April ’22. Dr. Frazier (Shelter), Anesthesia – offer letter to be sent (Martins), SAIM – interviewing now, SA orth position re-opened, Rad Onc (Dr. Lee (wants to visit with partner – med onc resident). Surgical Once (trying to get spousal hire for cardio), SA Primary Care (interviews being scheduled), Zoo Med (3 candidates to be interviewed), Reopened ER doctor search, Diagnostic Imaging, and equine primar care open. Arriving soon – Bill Krug (Dentistry), Ben Blair (Production), Lisa Bazzle (ECC), Celeste Kruse (ER), Barrata-Martin (primary care), Toborowsky (Cardio), Kennedy and Agili (ECC), Matt Berry (Onc), Dr. Garzotto (0.2 FTE, Ortho).
  • Staff updates – Jake Bough  Med Onc tech – interview, Rad Onc. , LAC vet assistant, Paige in Cardio has resigned (position will be posted), IMC tech (Fransisco Cruz) resign wants to stay on for extra help.

Facilities

• Equine Sx project – renovation on east OR is underway. Colic surgeries being diverted when possible. New OR is operational tomorrow. Hoist hook replaced to increase hoist height. We will be getting a different mounting system to gain another 2 inches. Chain container will be replaced to reduce size. Surgical prep floor is slick and options are being explored.
• Medication Dispensary – high humidity remains a problem when outdoor humidity increases – Facilities is pushing this issue with F&S as emergency.
• Oncology Addition – DD phase kicked off, next meeting in 2 weeks. Oncology group to review layout.
• Exhibit 1 signed for Oncology Addition clean room
• Feasibility study cost for Cube in VMSC is complete. Donor meeting scheduled for early August.
• Preliminary meeting with VMSC and F&S regarding future renovation occurred.
• MWE – lease extension being signed for 1 or 2 years.
• Security assessment of SAC lobby area conducted yesterday. Report pending.

Programs

• Thank you, Culture Committee, for all your efforts.
• Controlled Substance Surveillance

Other

• Dr. Strahl, Welcome to the VTH Board
• Teams cutover – Issues with voicemails, transfer call times, and difficulty in overhead paging. Campus has done all they can.  Need to make sure everyone has voicemail set up.

Financials

• No report for today. EOY is August 7^th. Discretionary accounts (e.g., necropsy funds, teaching funds, etc.) will be rolled over but are not reported yet in I-Report
  
  

Clothing for Services 

• The department pays for 2 lab coats per faculty and house officer. (LA polos) Pella Vet. Should we continue to buy white coats if they are not worn? Discussion about longevity, branding,

  Longevity? Branding? Clothing template? VCM will look into

  Talk to Facilities about Signs:  Signs need to be accurate and updated in a timely manner with consistent appearance.
  
  

Locums - Onboarding and expectations

• Discussion – Onboarding will be titrated for what they need to know, so they can functionally complete it before they start.
  What will need to be communicated for locum expectations while they are here? Varies from service to service, but the expectation is that they will be expected to oversee medical records in addition to clinical activities. Locum letter should be specific to expectations regarding clothing/equipment.  VTH will work with VCM to implement.
  
  

Service Updates

• MWE - Dr. Lognion last day is 7/31.

  Ophtho – locum coverage is being planned for 2 weeks during Dr. Marlo’s off clinic time (Sept. 11-Jan. 2)

  UCC – will pivot and support ECC

  Anesthesia – Dr. Trenholme’s last day is soon. Anesthesiologist backup on call will be by phone.  Currently training current house officers to support anesthesia cases. Working through the details.  Discussion regarding increasing the anesthesia technical staff. Need some mechanism for advanced support to assist when needed.

  ICU/IMC – Concerns about treatments being done and staffing. Jake has addressed this.

  Farrier – will hire a second Farrier. Tobias and Dr. French will continue to develop curricular integration for students on both the clinic floor and elsewhere
  
  

Instinct - Workflow charting

• Unsure if applicable in LAC.  Wireless app. – if the power goes out, then needs a backup.  Log in at home to update but have to make sure that everyone refreshes the screen.  Helpful to see treatments that still need to be done.
  
  

On-call House Officer fees (Dr. Hague) 

• After-hours calls – some cases require a longer time than others. Currently, $55 house officer emergency fee. The suggestion is a time-based fee.

  Example: Tufts - <4h vs >4h.

  Level 1 – consult $55

  Level 2 – consult and work up $110

  Level 3 – consult, work up and procedure $220

  NL – Should not be time-based

  Action Items – discuss at section meetings – Admin. To send out info for consideration.
  
  

Director / Asst. Dean Position

• No news to report