VTH Board Minutes 9/28/23

Updates: Info Only

Personnel:

• Welcome Faculty: Dentistry: Dr. Krug; ECC: Drs. Lisa Bazzle and Celeste Cruz; Primary Care: Dr. Alyssa Barrata-Martin; Cardiology: Dr. Carl Toborowsky
• CVTs: Hannah Miller, Oncology, started 9/5; Emma Stricklin, ERL Mel Fletcher transferring from LA overnights to Eq Therio.
• CVT upgrades being processed – J. Bough
• CVT/Vet Assistant wages being discussed with LER/DAR/CVM
• Jacob Manning has accepted Farrier position and will be starting January 8^th.
• E. Volk – promoted to Associate Hospital Director for Finance
• Dr. Laura Frazier – Director of Pet Population Control and Community Medicine Program (PPCCM)
• Pharmacist Lauralei Fisher-Cronkite starting 10/9
• Dr. Cat Foreman-Hesterberg – Director of Midwest Equine at IL

Facilities:

• Oncology Addition – Design Development meeting was held on September 19^th with end result being approval to move to Construction Document phase. DD came in under budget! Team is meeting weekly to continue work.
• Oncology Clean Room – Preliminary design was significantly over budget, working to get second opinion.
• Equine Surgery – Need feedback on soft tissue floor, prep floor to be finished Oct 9-15 when surgeons are at ACVS meeting.
• Furniture installed in SA surgery corridor for small group/individual seating.
• Wildlife Education Classroom (Cube) – feasibility study estimated cost at $2.4M. Donor is not accepting of this plan. Will work to develop next steps that meet donor intent.
• MWE – Conversation with Capital Properties office revealed significant challenges associated with procuring land, will continue to explore options.
• Ethylene oxide sterilizer – estimated to arrive mid-late October, early Nov.

Programs:

• Blood bank is relocated and restarted. Donors being screened.
• Hemodialysis machine has arrived and is awaiting installation by ECC personnel, plan is to start offering plasma dialysis.
• LA Dispensing fees – Oct 1, will be eliminated and replaced with increase of $25 for comprehensive exam fee
• Capital Equip Approval notification started – J. Bough
• Tech recruiting/training on-going

Other:

• Ultrasound price increases went into effect 9/15, will likely increase again. VetCT will be reading ultrasounds starting Monday, Oncura unable to find radiologists to read
• ADA Accessibility/Policy Needed – exception has been granted for IDEXX machines in SA ER and VMSC, renewal annually, NVDA installed on ER computer, law change expected in future Title II/504
• Vet Tech Week 10/16 – 10/20
• Open House 10/1
• VCM Dept. Review – 10/15-10/17
  Group of 5 faculty from Universities across the U.S. to review VCM. Opportunities for anyone from VTH, VCM and VDL to meet the committee. Dr. Barger will send out itinerary once finalized
• New Provost visit to CVM 10/12 – 3-5PM, includes 90 minute tour of college/CSLC/VTH.
• Stats from Senior Survey: graduating debt - $169-181K; avg. 3.6 job offers prior to graduation, 15% had 6 or more; driving factors for job acceptance – 80% mentorship, 70% location, compensation listed 4^th; salary median - $123K, 50% report signing bonus ($20K); 40% of IL grads took IL employment
• COVID – no longer regulated at Univ level – follow CDC guidelines
• Campus is launching their new strategic plan “Boldly Illinois” – focus on vision, momentum, and impact

Controlled Substance Program Updates 

• Background checks and training – what’s coming and what are we doing.
  • OVCRI will establish a policy for UIUC’s oversight of activities involving controlled substances.
  • Proposed background plan covers the license holder, authorized users, and authorized agents
  • Renewed on a 3-year basis – only the questionnaire

• CS RX’s sent home with clients –
  • Proposed CS handout will provide information about controlled substances and fulfills our obligation to provide education regarding CS to clients
  • Agreement in the CS handout, but process of how form should be given (add to discharge template, added in the medication bag, etc. will need to be tweaked)
  • Process will be tweaked and form will be sent for Board review
• New pharmacist Lauralei Fisher-Cronkhite will take over regulatory component in monitoring controlled substances

Licensing 

Discussion on pros/cons of clinicians getting IL practice +/- CS licenses. VTH stance.

Discussion:
If prescribing to outside pharmacies, will need to have a license if they are the prescriber. Pros: House officers don’t have to have battles with outside pharmacies. Reduces too many things under the hospital director’s name for patients she knows nothing about.

Cons: High cost, and delays from vet board to get state licenses. The renewal is 2 years and require CE’s. If VTH requires licensure, need a process to monitor renewed/active licenses.

Long-term boarding animals 

Should there be a limit? Discussion on expectations and requirements.

Discussion:

• Concern about communicating and setting expectations, rather than duration.
• Different scenarios with medical boarding vs. hospitalized stay
• Should have some sort of statement to prevent clients leaving their animals for an excessive amount of time.
• Should these be situationally addressed?
• Can a notification trigger in SANDI to fill out a weight, SOAP, etc.

On-call fees

• Collected feedback for proposed on-call fees sent out for review

  Action Item: JW will see what other schools are doing

House Officer Requests

• Review decisions, discuss SA Rotating Interns

• New format for VIRMP

• Continue requirement for 10 days in ER
  
  

Patient ID

• Current policy not being followed, what do we want it to be? Patient Identification (uillinois.edu)
  
  Sections will review and provide feedback
  
  

Service Updates 

• Critical Care – soft opening 10/9

*NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) is a free and open source screen reader for the Microsoft Windows operating system