| Working at Iowa Survey Results | Stead Family Department of Pediatrics colleagues,
Congratulations on having surpassed the institutional goal of 75% completion of the Working at Iowa Survey, and for surpassing last year's completion rate for the department. Together, we reached a remarkable 92.50% completion rate!
I am excited to share that our team who passed a 90% completion rate will be receiving Scratch cupcakes later this month:
- Administration
- APP Ambulatory
- Child and Community Health
- Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
- Endocrinology
- Gastroenterology
- Neonatology
- Neurology
See below for the final completion rates:
Thank you to everyone who took time to complete the survey! Your honest feedback allows us to celebrate areas where we are doing well, and continue to work on opportunities for improvement. We plan to share more information on the survey results after we receive them from the institution.
Sincerely,
Keith Clasen
Clinical Services Director, Stead Family Department of Pediatrics
University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine | | | | Celebrate Your Colleagues Welcome, New Hires!
- Gretchen Cleve, Medical Lab Technician, Division of Medical Genetics & Genomics, starts today, October 11.
- Alison Cofer, Sonographer, Division of Cardiology, starts today, October 11.
- Courtney Cooper, Clinical Research Associate, Division of Endocrinology, starts today, October 11.
- Jayme Mews, Specialized Care Coordinator, Division of Developmental and Behavioral Psychology, starts today, October 11.
Announcing Voluntary Blood Donor Leave
As of October 1, 2021, University of Iowa employees are now eligible for paid leave for voluntary blood donation. This leave is for a period of up to two (2) consecutive hours in the workday, up to four (4) times per calendar year.
Employees should track their voluntary blood donation leave by entering the appropriate hours on their time record using code 87 – Voluntary Blood Donor Leave for faculty/staff reporting through self-service or using code BLOOD DONOR for faculty/staff reporting through ELMS.
Voluntary Blood Donation leave hours will not reduce the employee’s vacation or sick leave balance. Employees should discuss with their supervisor to coordinate and schedule the hours they will be away from work for blood donor leave. Supervisors are encouraged to be flexible in working with employees to schedule blood donor leave as long as it will not interfere with business operations.
The employee must provide written donation verification from the employee’s physician, or the facility or hospital involved in the donation. Departments should retain this documentation locally or upload it to the employee’s ePersonnel file.
For more information, see this document.
Open Positions with the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics
We currently have multiple opportunities for people to join our Department - we encourage you to view them and share them as you like:
| | | Professional Development Opportunities Are you interested in additional training or professional development? University Human Resources offers several free sessions to help you grow in your career. Visit Self Service > My Career > My Training for the total list of opportunities.
Some sessions coming up in the next two weeks are:
Supervisor Training@IOWA--Recruiting, Hiring, and Onboarding
Who taught you how to hire? Despite the importance of adding the right people to your team, few supervisors receive formal training on how to do so. This Supervisor Training @Iowa session is designed to help supervisors understand their role in fostering a positive employee experience through consistent application of management practices such as recruiting, hiring, onboarding, compensating, and advancing employees.
Monday, October 18 from 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. via Zoom
Skype for Business Basic Telephone Skills-Windows Based
This class is for people who are using, or who will soon be using, Skype for Business as their telephone service. Topics covered will be:
- Basic Call Handling (making and receiving a call, placing a call on hold, transferring or forwarding a call).
- Voice Mail basics (retrieving a voice mail message, recording a voice mail greeting)
Tuesday, October 19 from 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. via Zoom (More dates available)
BUILD: Putting It All Together-Strategies for Managing Difficult Conversations
Participants will learn about different types of conversations and consider the possible factors that make them challenging. We will review tools to address and organize the impacts of assumptions, identities, and emotions. Participants will have an opportunity to practice utilizing new resources through case scenarios.
Tuesday, October 19 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon via Zoom | | | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | | | | Today is Indigenous Peoples' Day Indigenous Peoples' Day[1] is a holiday that celebrates and honors Native American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures. On October 8th, 2021 President Joe Biden signed a presidential proclamation declaring October 11th to be a national holiday.[2] It is celebrated across the United States on the second Monday in October, and is an official city and state holiday in various localities. It began as a counter-celebration held on the same day as the U.S. federal holiday of Columbus Day, which honors Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. Many reject celebrating him, saying that he represents "the violent history of the colonization in the Western Hemisphere,"[3] and that Columbus Day is a sanitization or covering-up of Christopher Columbus' actions such as enslaving Native Americans.[4][5] Indigenous People’s Day was instituted in Berkeley, California, in 1992, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus in the Americas on October 12, 1492. Two years later, Santa Cruz, California, instituted the holiday.[6] Starting in 2014, many other cities and states adopted the holiday.[7]
To see President Biden's Proclamation on Indigenous Peoples' Day, go here.
Source: Wikipedia | | | DEI in Our Workplace Name Pronunciation: It Matters
"What might it feel like when people you work with keep getting your name wrong?"
This question was posed to the group present at the DEI Town Hall. It is clear that it happens often in our work environment. Our names our powerful representations of our identities, and it shows respect for another person when you attempt to say a name that you find difficult to pronounce correctly.
One tool to help with correct name pronunciation is available through your Self Service > Personal Information > Name Pronunciation; log in here and record yourself saying your name correctly. The sound file immediately uploads to your listing in the UI Directory. You are encouraged to check this directory if you are unsure of how to pronounce someone's name, or simply ask them how to pronounce their name when you are asking they would like to be addressed.
DEI Book Club
The Stead Family Department of Pediatrics' DEI Committee is debuting a book club! The first meeting has been set for October 29, from 12 noon - 1p.m., via Zoom. Our first book is Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. If you are interested in joining this book club, please email Kortney Barrett and Dr. Joyce Goins-Fernandez to be included on communications and to receive the Zoom link for participation. | | | | Chair’s Rounds
- Fourth Tuesday of every rotation, 12:15 - 1:00 p.m.
- Residents present recent interesting clinical care cases to review and receive feedback from faculty. All faculty regardless of specialty are encouraged to attend.
- Chair's Rounds continue to meet in person. Plexiglass dividers will be spaced out in order to maintain safety precautions while eating.
Faculty Meeting
- First, third, and fifth Mondays of the month, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. via Zoom.
Frontiers in Pediatric Research Lectures
- Second and fourth Mondays of the month, from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. via Zoom.
- No Frontiers on Monday, September 27.
- Food will not be provided at this time.
Grand Rounds
- Every Friday from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. in JCP 2415 and via Zoom.
- October 15: Faculty Promotion Meeting - No Grand Rounds
- October 22: Iowa Neonatology Day: Steven Miller, MDCM, MAS, Neurology Division Head, Centre for Brain & Mental Health at The Hospital for Sick Children, "Brain Health in Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease: The Heart of the Matter"
- Packed lunches will be provided. Due to COVID hospital restrictions, you must take your lunch when you leave to eat on your own.
K Club
- K Club occurs approximately every two weeks, from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. on Thursdays. This meeting may be attended in person in the Morriss Conference Room, or via Zoom.
- Junior faculty present research/grant submissions to receive feedback from senior faculty on how best to structure the research/submission to maximize chances of success.
- Food will not be permitted for in-person K Club meetings until further notice.
Iowa Neonatology Day 2021
This year's Iowa Neonatology Day spans October 21-22, and features Dr. Steven Miller’s presentation on “Brain Health in Neonates with Congenital Heart Disease: the heart of the matter” during Grand Rounds (no registration required).
To register for Iowa Neonatology Day a.m. and p.m. sessions, please contact Jill Kinnaird. See the full agenda for the event here. | | | First Annual National APP Week Today marks the start of the first annual National APP Week! "For the first time ever, a team of Advanced Practice Provider (APP) leaders from across the country, representing 75+ participating organizations and over 40,000 APPs, are coordinating an Inaugural National APP Week for 2021. This is an opportunity to come together and recognize APPs as a unified group and model. APPs include Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs), Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs), Nurse-Midwives (CNMs), Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistant/Associates (PAs). Increasingly, APPs are represented in organizations together with a unified leadership structure to represent this provider group.
The theme of the 2021 National Celebration is “APPs United”. Given the unprecedented changes in the healthcare industry in response to COVID-19 and as organizations plan for what lies ahead, APPs are critically important members of the interdisciplinary healthcare team. APPs coming together were key to the success in many organizations where they were redeployed to meet the patient care needs where there were critical staffing shortages. “APPs are a highly trained, adaptable workforce that helps to optimize the care team and achieve key quality, safety and patient access goals! During the week of October 11-15, 2021 we celebrate APPs United for all that they do!"
For more information, continue reading at www.nationalappweek.com.
Chat From the Old Cap: Treating and Curing Epilepsy
Join two experts from the University of Iowa's industry leading epilepsy program as they discuss research that helps to understand the causes of epilepsy and leads to discoveries for improved treatments and, one day, a cure for this devastating disease.
Alexander Bassuk, MD, PhD, is Physician in Chief and Chair of the Stead Family Department of Pediatrics for UI Stead Family Children´s Hospital. He has spent the last 14 years working as a pediatric neurologist and researcher, and has studied genetic and molecular mechanisms of epilepsy, autism, inflammation, retinal diseases, and traumatic brain injury.
Bassuk will be joined by Gordon Buchanan, MD, PhD, who is an associate professor of neurology and currently holds the Beth L. Tross Epilepsy Professorship. Buchanan has spent seven years at Iowa as an adult neurologist and researcher with a special focus on sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.
This program will be hosted by Nate Tross (82BA), who, along with his wife Beth, have generously supported epilepsy programs at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. The couple has donated more than $2 million over the last decade to support research and treatment.
Register to join this virtual event.
Chat from the Old Cap is a series of virtual engagement sessions featuring Iowa alumni and friends sharing stories from their careers, backgrounds, and the university that unites us.
Contact: Tony Hakes 319-467-3391 | | | Wellness, News, and Recognition | | | | Wellness Updates Flu Season is Here: Get Vaccinated and Become a Flu Fighter
With COVID-19 cases rising due to the delta variant, it’s important we do everything we can to stay healthy, which includes getting vaccinated against the flu.
The good news? It’s easy (and free!) to receive your flu vaccine through our University Employee Health Clinic.
This year’s campaign will run through November 19, with several clinics and opportunities making it easier than ever for you to get vaccinated. Visit The Loop for information on how to participate in the campaign.
Family Services: Elder Caregiving Services
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Let LivWell Seniors help you navigate the complex and often confusing world of elder caregiving through a UI partnership. Employees can meet with a Senior Resource Specialist one-on-one or with family members at no cost. Learn more at the UHR Family Services Elder Caregiving website.
| | | Congratulations to Janine Petitgout (Care Coordination), John Werner (Social Work) and Stephanie Stewart (Nursing) on their collaborative paper recently published discussing a best practice alert (BPA) built into the electronic medical record “…to help overcome the challenges in timely identification of children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN).” The purpose of the paper is to describe a quality improvement initiative to improve the early identification of CSHCN on hospital admission through the development of a best practice alert. | | | | YOU Make a Difference, Amanda Darnall! I am nominating Amanda for her "behind the scenes" work helping train our fellows and newer sonographers. Amanda took time after work, on her own time, to help our new fellow learn scanning techniques this summer. Amanda tends to be reserved which often belies all of the great teaching and mentorship that she provides. She is a true asset to our department and deserves a kudos!
Nominated by: Pediatric Echo Cardiology Team on September 1, 2021 | | | A unique exit strategy may help explain why measles is the most contagious human virus The new finding from Patrick Sinn, PhD, and team shows that patches of measles-infected airway cells containing large quantities of virus dislodge from the airway surface. These aerosolized rafts of cells appear to be viable and may protect the measles virus, allowing it to survive for longer outside of the body. | | | Spotlight on @UIowaPICU | You can find University of Iowa PICU Fellowship's Twitter account @UIowaPICU. If you don't already follow them, please do! The account started in July 2021, and is filled with fellow features (including their furry friends), recognition of their colleagues' important and exciting work, and helpful information about the fellowship.
Also: the department's official social media account is live! You can find us on Twitter @UIowaPeds. | | | |
