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 Regenstrief Center-affiliated faculty member leads assessment of emergency medical services workforce capacity in Indiana’s rural communities. More
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People
> Hagg launches statewide Lean/Six Sigma network. More
> Musselman elected president of Institute of Industrial
Engineering. More
Projects
> Affiliated faculty examines rural emergency medical care needs in Indiana. More
Partners
> Community Health Network, Regenstrief Center form $1.5 million research collaboration. More
> Regenstrief Center emeritus faculty to lead Center of Excellence. More
> Witz named St. Vincent Health Chair of Healthcare Engineering. More
Progress
> Save the Date: Regenstrief Center 2007 Fall Symposium. More
> Annual conference explored healthcare delivery for the next generation. More
> Google searches lead to Regenstrief Center research. More
Publicity
> $12.4 million Mann Hall dedicated in Discovery Park. More
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Hagg launches statewide Lean/Six Sigma network
Heather (Woodward) Hagg, a new Regenstrief Center faculty member, has launched an RCHE-sponsored statewide network of Purdue College of Engineering and Technology faculty working to integrate systems engineering principles into healthcare environments. The focus of this program is to translate systems engineering methodologies into relevant and accessible tools that can be readily applied by healthcare professionals in creating sustained improvement in the quality of healthcare delivery within Indiana.
“The healthcare environment provides not only a challenging setting for systems engineering and implementation research, but also the unique opportunity to improve the ways in which patients receive care, which is very rewarding,” said Hagg, a certified quality engineer, certified Six Sigma Black Belt, and a professor in the College of Technology at Purdue. “A number of Purdue faculty have already established effective partnerships with healthcare organizations throughout the state. Our initial goals are to continue to identify collaborative opportunities and to get a greater number of engineering and technology faculty out into the field working with partner hospitals.”
Under Hagg’s leadership, faculty from Purdue–West Lafayette, Purdue-Calumet and IUPUI have worked onsite at more than 20 Indiana hospitals in facilitating project teams in application of systems engineering tools to improve healthcare delivery processes. “Our faculty focuses on a facilitative rather than consultative approach,” said Hagg. “Teams of front-line staff are introduced to systems engineering tools and methodologies and mentored through application of these tools to improve their own healthcare delivery processes. We find that this approach greatly increases the likelihood that improvements will be implemented and sustained over time.”
The st. Margaret Mercy hospital system in northwest Indiana, one of the first hospital systems to work with the Purdue statewide faculty, earned the Innovators Award from Ivy Tech State College Northwest for their Lean Six Sigma program, developed with participating faculty from three regional campuses: Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Purdue Calumet and Purdue North Central.
Prior to joining the Regenstrief Center, Hagg was a professor of industrial engineering technology at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis. She spent nine years at Intel Corp. as a process and quality engineer within semiconductor manufacturing. Her expertise includes the development and implementation of closed-loop process control systems within high-volume manufacturing. Her current research concentration involves adapting the quality and continuous improvement methodologies and tools (i.e. Six Sigma, Lean) used in manufacturing for the healthcare industries. Woodward earned her bachelor's degree in ceramic engineering and mechanical engineering from University of Missouri-Rolla and and master’s degree in Material Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
“Heather has proven capabilities in systems improvement, and her previous work across the state will serve as a launchpad for the center’s continued efforts in this area,” said Steven M. Witz, Regenstrief Center director.
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Musselman elected president of Insitute of Industrial Engineering
Kenneth J. Musselman, strategic collaboration director for the Regenstrief Center, was recently elected president-elect and chief financial officer of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Candidates are selected by a subcommittee of the IIE Board of Trustees, and votes are cast online by professional IIE members only.
With approximately 15,000 members and 280 chapters worldwide, IIE’s primary mission is to meet the ever changing needs of industrial engineers, which includes undergraduate and graduate students, engineering practitioners and consultants in all industries, engineering
managers and engineers in education, research and government. Musselman now holds a three-year position on IIE’s Board of Trustees, transitioning from president-elect, to president, to past president. In his first year, he is responsible for long-range organizational planning, sponsorship activities and financial affairs, serving as the chief financial officer.
As president, Musselman also will oversee societies within IIE, including the Society for Health Systems (SHS), whose mission is to contribute to the improvement of healthcare delivery systems through systems engineering, analysis and process improvement methods.
Ken Musselman has been the strategic collaboration director for the Regenstrief Center since February 2005. For more than 30 years, Musselman has actively consulted in the aerospace, automotive, communications, computers, consumer products, electronics, healthcare, metals and transportation industries. He has consulted with more than 100 organizations worldwide and has lectured extensively.
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Affiliated faculty examines rural emergency medical care needs in Indiana
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), quality shortcomings in rural healthcare most often stem from the lack of access to core healthcare services. Rural communities have difficulty attracting and retaining healthcare professionals, leading to a shortage of facilities and clinicians and limited healthcare options for community members (IOM, 2005). In emergency situations, a lack of local trained healthcare professionals can have serious, even fatal results.
George Avery, an assistant professor in the Purdue Department of Health and Kinesiology and a Regenstrief Center affiliated-faculty member, is leading a research team to assess the current workforce distribution and capacity of emergency medical technicians in Indiana’s rural areas. The project is funded by Indiana State Department of Health's Office of Rural Health and the Health Research and Services Administration, the primary Federal Agency for improving access to healthcare services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.
“In Indiana, nearly 33 percent of Indiana residents live in rural areas, some as far as 45 minutes from the nearest ambulance or hospital services," said Avery. "In these remote areas, emergency medical technicians play a significant role in stabilizing and transporting patients, particularly in the first critical hour. The ultimate goal is to ensure that rural emergency care equals care available in urban areas.”
Little is currently known about the collective workforce among the 750 emergency medical services organizations in Indiana. Avery’s team, which includes graduate students in community health and nursing, is collecting background data from 2,500 EMTs and paramedics licensed in Indiana to capture current workforce experience, training needs and motivations to enter and/or leave the emergency-care field. This information can be used to create workforce development plans aimed at training and retaining experienced emergency-care personnel near isolated communities.
Avery, who earned his doctorate at the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, is engaged in emergency preparedness research, examining the impact of funding from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention on emergency preparedness activities in local health departments. He also is part of the Purdue team developing planning processes for the Indiana State Department of Health to establish alternative care sites in the event of a pandemic.
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Community Health Network, Regenstrief Center form $1.5 million research collaboration
Community Health Network, a multi-hospital system in Indianapolis, and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering have announced the formation of a strategic partnership. Officials at Community Health Network and the Regenstrief Center anticipate a $1.5 million three-year collaboration to identify research opportunities for improving healthcare delivery at the regional and national levels.
Community Health Network, one of the largest healthcare providers in the state, employs more than 10,000 people at its five major hospitals and more than 70 sites of care in central Indiana.
William E. Corley, president and chief executive officer at Community Health Network, said the first task of the partnership is to develop a roadmap to use Regenstrief's expertise in applying engineering principles to analyze how the healthcare industry, particularly hospital operations, can best meet the current and future needs of patients and their families.
"Our mission at Community Health Network has been to provide exceptional healthcare for families living in the communities we serve. Since opening the doors at our first hospital over 50 years ago, Hoosiers of all ages have come to depend on us for that care and caring," Corley said. "This collaboration with the Regenstrief Center will enable us and other health-related organizations to explore opportunities that will enhance the quality, accessibility and affordability of care."
Steven Witz, director of the Regenstrief Center, said the center's ability to design and implement effective and sustainable solutions is strongly linked to its partnerships with professionals throughout the healthcare industry. "By collaborating with Community Health Network, we will be able to advance our process-engineering principles and create a framework that ensures this nation's healthcare system remains the best and most efficient in the world.”
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Regenstrief Center emeritus faculty to lead Center of Excellence
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced it will partner with the University of Arkansas and Blue Cross Blue Shield to create a research center to focus on improving the healthcare delivery system with the use of information technology. The Center for Innovation in Health Care Logistics will be dedicated to conducting research aimed at identifying and addressing gaps and roadblocks in the application and delivery of health information technology, and highlighting and replicating proven applications that are working to benefit patients and providers.
Professor Ron Rardin, former director of academic operations for the Regenstrief Center and Purdue Professor Emeritus, will be the center’s executive director. “Although healthcare presents formidable challenges, many of the needed solutions can be adapted from innovations in other industries, including those where our corporate partners have been leaders,” Rardin said. “The center’s efforts will focus on identifying and replicating best-practice solutions, as well as conducting novel research to address technology gaps and roadblocks.”
The Regenstrief Center continues collaboration with Rardin and the University of Arkansas on an Engineering Research Center grant application to the National Science Foundation. Other collaborating universities include North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T, and the University of South Florida.
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Steven Witz named St. Vincent Health Chair of Healthcare Engineering
In February 2007, the Purdue Board of Trustees named Steven M. Witz, director of the Regenstrief Center, as the St. Vincent Health Chair of Healthcare Engineering. The chair is funded as a part of a $1.5 million contribution from Ascension Health and its largest ministry, St. Vincent Health, with a network of 16 hospitals serving a region of 45 Indiana counties. St. Vincent Health is a Regenstrief Center strategic partner, providing center researchers with “living laboratories,” allowing important access to physicians, nurses and management staff.
The recipient of the chair professorship is expected to provide leadership in discovery, learning and engagement related to healthcare engineering.
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Save the Date: Regenstrief Center 2007 Fall Symposium
Connect with other Purdue healthcare researchers on Sept. 18 at the Regenstrief Center’s fall symposium, “Transforming Healthcare Delivery: Multidisciplinary Research at Purdue.”
As a follow-up to the 2006 fall symposium on healthcare research in Purdue’s College of Engineering, this year’s symposium will highlight research advances in liberal arts, social sciences, nursing and technology. Purdue faculty and collaborators will present the university’s multidisciplinary research efforts in the areas of obesity, mental illness, prevention, work and health, patient/physician interaction, health organizational management, and care across the lifespan. Symposium attendees can learn about healthcare research opportunities at Purdue, network with potential mentors, collaborators and students, and explore new research directions with colleagues from a variety of disciplines.
The symposium is free to Purdue faculty, students, staff and collaborators. Registration will be available on July 1 at www.purdue.edu/rche.
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Annual Conference explores healthcare delivery for the next generation
Two national healthcare leaders addressed the top priorities for transforming the U.S. healthcare system on April 23 during the spring Discovery Lecture Series, organized by the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Purdue University and the Lilly Endowment. Stephen Shortell, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, discussed research opportunities to achieve a system that provides accessible, quality and coordinated healthcare.
In his talk, "Marriage of Medicine and Management: Sustaining Improvement in Delivery, Quality, Cost and Outcomes," Shortell focused on the need to address both the content of care (evidence-based medicine) and the context of care (evidence-based management) in order to impact the “three-legged stool” of access, cost and quality in healthcare delivery. He stressed that progress must be made in each area in order to sustain meaningful system transformation.
Davis’ talk, titled “ The Road to Improving National Performance of Healthcare Delivery," reviewed findings from the national healthcare quality scorecard recently released by Commonwealth. She described several keys to transforming the healthcare system, including healthcare insurance for all, increasing transparency, and pursuing excellence in safe, efficient and effective care.
"Dr. Shortell has established himself as a national expert and academic leader, especially in how the gaps affect the effective delivery of proper care as well as the impact of budget cuts on the system, notably community services," said Regenstrief Center director Steven Witz.
"Dr. Davis has documented the problems facing the nation's health-care system, pointing out inefficiencies that result in poor-quality care and lost value, consumers forced into debt and bankruptcy to pay for medical bills, and above all, the increasing number of Americans who go without the security of health insurance coverage."
Shortell and Davis also served to kick off the Regenstrief Center’s Annual Conference, “Advancing the Future of Healthcare Delivery: Access, Quality and Responsibility,” which continued on April 24. Conference sessions featured healthcare experts from industry and academia discussing the national issues of equitable access, consumer-driven healthcare, wellness and prevention, and alternative models for providing care. A review of these sessions will be featured in the next newsletter issue.
PowerPoint presentations from the conference are now available on-line at www.purdue.edu/dp/dls/rche; video versions of the conference will be posted in the near future.
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Google searches lead to Regenstrief Center research
The Regenstrief Center has introduced the RCHE Online Document Library. The library, developed with Purdue Libraries, is now accepting abstracts and documents from Purdue researchers that feature center-related research. The goal is to provide internal and external researchers, students and healthcare professionals a view of the breadth and depth of the center's on-going activities. The online library also is included in Google keyword searches, facilitating wider dissemination of research outcomes.
Visit the on-line library to post your research or search for papers, presentations and/or abstracts. For posting guidelines, visit www.purdue.edu/rche and select the headings, “Research” and “Articles.” To search through posted documents, visit http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/rche.
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Purdue dedicated $12.4 million Mann Hall in Discovery Park
Gerald D. and
Edna E. Mann Hall |
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On Tuesday, May 15, Purdue University marked the completion of Gerald D. and Edna E. Mann Hall, a $12.4 million facility for Discovery Park research centers focusing on healthcare engineering, advanced manufacturing, cancer detection and treatment, systems analysis and homeland security.
Mann Hall provides offices for 100 researchers and staff from several centers including e-Enterprise Center, Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Oncological Sciences Center and Purdue Homeland Security Institute. The building is located at 203 Martin Jischke Drive on the southwest edge of campus.
“This facility in Discovery Park will help us centralize and advance the tremendous research success we’ve generated from these key centers, said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke. “This building will be home to an all-star cast of centers and their researchers.”
Gerald “Jerry” Mann and his wife, Edna, donated the initial $3 million for constructing the 50,000-square-foot, two-story building. A Newport, N.C., native, Gerald Mann received his master’s degree in civil engineering from Purdue in 1956. With the assistance of Edna as his financial and management advisor, he started American Testing and Engineering Corp, which grew to 1,500 employees in 52 offices. He also is founder and senior partner at Mann Properties LLC, a commercial and residential real estate firm and family business.
Twenty-five percent of the building’s 20,000 assignable square feet is dedicated to the Regenstrief Center, including administrative offices, cubicle space for graduate researchers, a conference room, and collaboration spaces.
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