Wraps Off New Employee Training Program
Here's the Director...
Here's the Program...
DR. ANN BRITT
When Dr. Ann Britt reported for
work last week as director of Duke
Hospital's new Department of
Human Resources Development, she
found six major projects already
waiting for her.
For the first couple of days it was
even a joke.
When her boss Administrative
Director Richard Peck, introduced
her at meetings he admitted that his
boss, the hospital's chief executive
officer. Dr. Roscoe R. (Ike) Robinson,
had adominished him about
expecting too much from her too
soon.
"Ike told me I ought to at least give
her until Monday," Peck said.
By Monday the jokes were in the
past and Britt, who holds an Ed.D. in
(Continued on page 4)
By Joe Sigler
An employee training program
was unveiled this week by the
hospital administration.
It's a program that's unique in
North Carolina, and perhaps
elsewhere, because of its scope, its
potential for touching the lives of
practically every employee and its
tie-in with the state's community
college system.
Heading the new training
program, which falls under the
newly created Department of Human
Resources Department, is Dr. Ann
Britt. (See companion story on her
appointment.)
Limitless Opportunities
Establishment of the department
and appointment of its director were
announced by Administrative
rJt
Intercom
Duke University Medical Center
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 6
FEBRUARY 11,1977
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Inventor Combines Nursing, Electronics
By John Becton
RN Ernie Tacchi's act is more than
just party entertainment.
Certainly it is an effective ice
breaker when someone inserts two
fingers into the cups attached to
Tacchi's Stress-Sonic instrument and
watches the numbers change with
changing physiological conditions,
and especially when a group of
people join hands and collectively
alter the readings on the device.
But the Stress-Sonic is actually a
precursor to a more intricate
instrument, the Cardio-Scan, Tacchi
has invented.
The Cardio-Scan, whose prototype
is being built, will measure a surgical
patient's heart rate, respiration rate,
body temperature, calculated basal
metabolic rate and systolic, diastolic
and mean arterial blood pressure.
These will all be recorded with the
times at which they are measured.
Added Features
"This will be a supplement to
written records and might be used in
court, if necessary," Tacchi said. "It
would already be accepted in Federal
court.
"It varies with the states, but most
are changing. Within a few years,
such a record should be acceptable in
many state courts as well."
Tacchi said the Cardio-Scan also
will have a means of noting
subjective observations.
"It will be possible to note
rationale for actions, such as
decreasing the amount and rate of
anesthesia to bring pulse rate up,"
he said.
Yet another advantage the device
offers staff and patient will be its
easy instcdlation. It will be almost as
easy to attach as a blood pressure
cuff and will be non-invasive (no
needles).
Tacchi estimates it will take two or
three years to complete the
instrument, but his calculations
assure him it will work.
"It is run by a hybrid computer
system — part digital and part
analogue," he said. "It functions by
logic."
(Continued on page 2)
Director Richard Peck, who said the
program offers "limitless
opportunities for courses."
In addition to training programs
and courses of study specifically
related to a person's hospital work.
Peck said courses as varied as auto
mechanics or preparing income tax
statements — training that
employees would find useful in their
private lives — also could be
developed as an integral part of the
overall program.
The work of the new department,
planning of which has been under
way for nearly a year, has two
primary aims. Peck said:
"First, we want to improve
employees' skills and open up
additional opportunities for them.
Then, because of the nature of the
business we're in, we believe that
this in turn will help us provide
better patient care."
First Assignment
One of Britt's first assignments is
to develop an orientation program
for new hospital employees, "one
that will more fully make an
employee aware of the hospital's
specific goals and objectives and the
role that each employee plays in
contributing toward those while
working toward satisfaction of his or
her own professional or job-related
goals," Peck said.
Beyond that she will be meeting
with people throughout the hospital
to find out what they think is needed
and wanted in the way of training.
Peck believes that the Employee
Survey next month (see Intercom
IIHI77 and watch for an update on
the survey in next week's Intercom)
will help point out areas in which
Britt's department might
concentrate.
The department also will
coordinate a number of training
efforts already in progress in the
hospital, such as in food service and
(Continued on page 4)
M.D.X2
(a) a hectic life
(b) a personal medical consultant
(c) confusion for callers
(d) all of the above.
For the answer read about some
of the M.D. couples who work in
the medical center in Intertwine, a
special insert in this week's
Intercom.
m
IF EDISON HAD BEEN A NURSE—And if he had had access to
computer circuits, he might have invented the Cardio-Scan.
But that job was left for Ernie Tacchi, shown here with the
instrument's main circuit board, which was built from the
diagram on the drawing board. Getting an explanation of haw»
the device works is "Ginger," who understood it about as weff
as the Intercom rep>orter. (Photo by John Becton)