Intercom
Duke University Medical Center
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 14
APRIL 8,1977
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Lab Changes To Improve Patient Care
In an effort to consolidate the
operation of hospital laboratories, a
number of lab-related,
behind-the-scene administrative
changes have taken place here over
the past several months.
The physical results of these
changes will probably not be visible
until after Duke North has been
occupied in 1979, but Dr. Kenneth
Schneider, director of hospital
laboratories, believes improved
service to patients can result much
sooner.
In a recent interview. Dr. Robert L.
Habig, director of clinical chemistry,
said that Schneider has created a
three-person directorate for hospital
laboratories and a number of
advisory and policy committees.
Variety of Viewpoints
"Rather than establishing a
vertical chain of command in
decision making. Dr. Schneider
prefers to bring a variety of points of
view to bear on a problem so that a
workable consensus and the best
solution can be reached,” Habig
said.
The chemist said the directorate
consists of Robert Wildermann, a
medical laboratory supervisor in
clinical chemistry, as technical
coordinator, himself as deputy
director and Schneider as director.
"The directorate will be
responsible for activities that
ALPN to BSN
With PEP'S Aid
(From a report by Wilma Yellock,
Reporter, Carter Suite.)
"I'm telling you the truth — I can't
praise PEP enough." Elsie Trollinger,
Advanced Licensed Practical Nurse
(ALPN) on Carter Suite, glows when
she talks about Paths for Employee
Progress (PEP).
The program enabled her to
complete her bachelor's degree in
nursing at North Caroliiui Centrsd
University (NCCU) in December.
She plans to take her examinations to
become a registered nurse (RN) in
July.
"PEP is really a catalyst to people
here at Duke," Trollinger said. It
pays tuition and a stipend to
supplement part-time earnings
while employees are attending
school. They continue to receive
employee benefits such as health
insurance and pro-rated amounts of
sick leave, holidays and vacation
time.
School Always with You
"It's hard to go to school and
work," Trollinger admitted. "You
may work just 20 hours a week but
school is with you 24 hours a day. I
feel like I'm on vacation now,
(Continued on page 2)
individual lab directors won't have
to be concerned about, such as blood
collection in the new hospital, the
way the computer system will serve
the labs and how vacated space in
Duke South may eventually be used
to centralize some of the existing
laboratories in one location," he
said.
Two of the new committees are
%
tJATIONAL MEDICAL LABORATORY WEEK—W'tW be observed next week. Miriam
Baker, teaching supervisor in Qinical Chemistry, teaches basic manual laboratory
techniques to medical technology students and serves as technologist liaison with
Sea Level Hospital to help the labs there gain accreditation. See page 3 for
photographs of others in the medical center's labs. (Photos by Ina Fried)
called councils. They are the
Laboratory Directors' Council which
Habig chairs and the Laboratory
Technologists' Council which
Wildermann chairs.
The first group, as one might
expect, includes the heads of all the
hospital's clinical labs. Habig said
council members will help make
decisions on budgeting, capital
equipment priorities and certain
wage and salary policies.
The members and the areas they
•represent are: Dr. Judith C.
Andersen, clinical hematology; Dr.
John Falletta, pediatric hematology;
Dr. Kenneth Hall, blood gas lab; Dr.
Dolph Klein, clinical microbiology;
Dr. Wendell Rosse, blood bank; and
Dr. John Bittikofer, clinical
chemistry.
Chief Technologists
The Laboratory Technologists'
Council includes, but is not limited
to, chief technologists in the various
labs. They will help determine policy
on such topics as quality control,
coordinated purchasing and
laboratory personnel, among others.
Members of this council and their
labs are: Norma Daniels, pediatric
hematology; Mary Ann Dotson,
clinical hematology; Patricia
Beckjord, blood bank; Stephen
Benson, microbiology; Samuel
Hargraves, clinical chemistry; Robert
Hoover, blood gas lab; Diane Moore,
lab collection service; and Ran
Whitehead, eye center.
The other new committees Habig
cited are the Laboratory Safety
Committee and the Continuing
Education Committee. Both groups
act in advisory and information
exchange capacities.
"One of the major objectives Dr.
Schneider has set is to have all of the
(Continued on page 3)
Surgeons Hearing Latest Emergency Methods
Surgeons from across North
Carolina will hear some of the latest
methods for treating emergency
patients at the American College of
Surgeons state chapter meeting here
today and tomorrow.
About 100 physicians are expected
to attend, according to Dr. William
W. Shingleton, president of the
group and director of the Duke
Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Program chairman for the meeting is
Dr. Samuel A. Wells Jrs., professor at
the Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Today's session begins at 9 a.m. at
the Ramada Irm Downtown. On
Saturday, the doctors meet at 8:30
a.m. in the Jones Building
auditorium.
Replanting Amputated
Body Parts
Bums and amputations are among
the emergencies to get attention this
morning.
Dr. Roger Salisbury, an associate
professor at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, wiU describe
the newest bxim treatments and will
point up the problems in bum
patient rehabilitation at 9:40 a.m.
Replanting amputated body parts
will be detailed at 10 a.m. by Dr.
James R. Urbaniak, an associate
professor at Duke.
Urbaniak and his colleagues drew
wide publicity in the summer of 1974
after they re-attached the amputated
thumb of a Fayetteville teenager. The
thumb had been tom off in a
water-skiing accident and lay lost on
a lake bottom for two hours before
the victim's brother found it.
Other Topics
Other speakers and topics today
are:
Dr. Jesse H. Meredith, professor at
Bowman Gray School of Medicine, on
orgaiuzing an emergency medical care
facility.
Dr. Joseph H. Moylan, Jr., associate
professor and chief of the Emergency
Service at Duke, on treating liver trauma.
Dr. Herbert J. Proctor, associate
professor at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, on metabolic
care of the trauma patient.
Dr. Oliver H. Beahrs of the Mayo
Clinic on the combined ileostomy.
Dr. William H. Muller, chairman of the
American College of Surgeons Board of
Regents, on issues and problems related
to the college.
Dr. Howard C. Filston, associate
professor at Duke, and Dr. Lillian R.
Kackmon, Duke associate professor, on
stugical emergencies in the newborn.
After grand rounds in the Jones
Building Saturday morning, Beahrs
will speak on cancer of the lower
colon and rectum at 10:15 a.m.