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April 2009 Volume 33 No. 4
Long time . . .
Five committee chairs with a total of 103 years of service to Stanford and the physician community were honored March 12 at the Medical Staff’s semi-annual meeting. Chief of Staff Bryan D. Bohman thanked the chairs, who are completing terms of service during an overall reevaluation of a committee structure that followed last year’s transition to elected medical staff governance. Bohman also announced that the chairs would get chairs — literally, Stanford chairs for their home or office. From left, faculty infectious disease specialist Jose G. Montoya, Pharmacy and Therapeutics Antibiotics Committee chair since 1997; faculty psychiatrist Jose R. Maldonado, Ethics Committee chair since 2000; Bohman; pulmonologist Andrew B. Newman, Health Information Management Committee chair since 1979; psychiatrist Kenneth M. Woodrow, Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee chair since 1977. Not pictured is thoracic surgeon and co-medical director of the operating rooms Walter B. Cannon, who chaired the Credentials Committee since 1979. Bohman said at the award ceremony that the new committee structure and chairs would be announced soon. (Click here for more coverage of the March 12 Medical Staff Meeting).
WHO-inspired surgical checklist launches


An expanded surgical checklist, based on worldwide data demonstrating that the process reduces mortality and morbidity, was launched April 13.

The program takes effect in SHC’s Perioperative Services — Main OR, Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) and the Stanford Medicine Outpatient Surgery Center (OSC) in Redwood City.

The checklist includes features already in place as a “timeout” before every procedure, and adds clinical enhancements throughout the perioperative process, such as an assessment of potential blood loss and a postprocedure discussion of “next steps.”

“The WHO protocol enhances the components of surgery, fitting in well with The Joint Commission Universal Protocol Process (preoperatively, intra operatively, as well as postoperatively) and other safety measures in place since 2003,” said Despina Chiampas-Johnson, perioperative compliance manager. The multidisciplinary team continues talking, evaluating and checking off items until the patient is handed off to personnel in post anesthesia recovery, she said. (See more)

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