Record Number of Student Nurse Interns Graduate

Updated on Aug 16, 2024 | Featured, Nursing

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Mount Sinai Nursing recently graduated a record number of student nurse summer interns, which included 101 students from nearly 40 nursing schools throughout the country who were accepted into and completed the prestigious program that follows the Magnet model of nursing excellence. Among the schools represented were Georgetown University, Howard University, Rutgers University, Saint Joseph’s University, University of Miami, and Villanova University.

The internship offers high-ranking, rising senior student nurses an invaluable opportunity to apply previously learned theory and skills by delivering supervised care and working within a hospital setting. The hope is to welcome many of the interns back to Mount Sinai following graduation. The interns participated in a graduation ceremony held Thursday, August 8, in Stern Auditorium.

“Today’s ceremony marks a significant milestone in your journey toward becoming full-fledged nurses, a journey filled with dedication, growth, and unwavering commitment to the noble profession of nursing,” said Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, FAAN, Chief Nurse Executive and Senior Vice President of Cardiac Services, Mount Sinai Health System. “Never underestimate the impact you can have on someone’s life, whether through a kind word or a gentle touch.”

In June, students were matched one-on-one with a Registered Nurse Mentor with whom they had an opportunity to interact and learn throughout their 10-week program. Their assignments took them to The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, Mount Sinai West, and Mount Sinai Queens.

“One of the most memorable things about this program was the direct patient care I provided,” said Alan Zhu, a nursing student at University of Pennsylvania, who interned at Mount Sinai Brooklyn. “Getting to know their needs and getting to know some of the family members was really heartwarming.”

From left: Beth Oliver, DNP, RN, FAAN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive, Mount Sinai Health System; Kenya Williams, EdD, RN, RP, CAE, FNYAM, Executive Director National Student Nurses Association; Maria Vezina, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Vice President and Chief of Nursing Practice, Education, Advanced Practice Nursing Credentialing, and Nursing Labor Relations Partnerships, Mount Sinai Health System; Lorisa Richards, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Nursing Operations, Acting Chief Nursing Officer, The Mount Sinai Hospital; Jill Goldstein, MA, MS, RN, Vice President Patient Services and Deputy Chief Nurse Officer, Mount Sinai Queens; and Jonathan Nover, MBA, RN, Vice President of Nursing, Emergency Services, Mount Sinai Health System

Sophia Pak, a nursing student at Saint Louis University who interned at Mount Sinai Morningside, also gained a lot from the experience. “This summer has definitely made me more confident in myself as a nurse,” she said. “It made me understand how my actions can affect a person’s life. Because of this program, we are each a step closer to becoming the best nurse we could possibly be.”

Nurse Mentor Maria Agranovskiy, BSN, RN, The Mount Sinai Hospital, Labor and Delivery, could not have agreed more.

“You are the future of health care, and the world is a better place because of the care and kindness you bring to your patients every day,” she said. “As you leave behind the title of student nurse intern and step into the role of a registered nurse, know that you carry with you the knowledge, skills, and values instilled within you from your time at Mount Sinai. You have the power to heal, comfort and inspire. I speak for all of the nurses who worked with you when I say we are very grateful for you all.”

COVID-19 Cases Have Been Rising: Three Key Takeaways

Updated on Aug 22, 2024 | Featured, Your Health

If you know someone who has had to stay home because of COVID-19, you’re not alone. Cases of the virus have been rising in New York City.

However, experts say this was expected, as there was a spike in cases last summer. More important, the number of hospitalizations is below the previous spikes that have appeared regularly over the last four years, and nowhere near the highest levels recorded in 2020 and 2022.

“The good news is the peak is not as high,” says Bernard Camins, MD, MSC, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Medical Director for Infection Prevention for the Mount Sinai Health System.

One thing that’s different right now is that a new vaccine is on the way, and the experts say you should plan to get that as soon as it’s available. The Food and Drug Administration approved the new vaccine on Thursday, August 22, sooner than anticipated. The new vaccine is expected to be available shortly.

Dr. Camins and Judith A. Aberg, MD, Dean of System Operations for Clinical Sciences and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Icahn Mount Sinai, who have been tracking the virus since it arrived in New York City in March of 2020, offer three key takeaways about COVID-19 and what you need to do to stay healthy.

Another summer surge, but less so: Experts believe cases tend to rise in the summer as more people get out and travel around, exposing more people to new variants. In addition, lots of people still tend to gather indoors during the summer.

Hospitalizations in New York, one of the key measures of the virus, have been rising through June and July, but they began to decline in late July, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Health authorities have stopped tracking the number of individual cases of COVID-19 because health care providers are no longer reporting them and because so many people are testing themselves and so positive results are not officially recorded. Also, the government has stopped giving out free testing kits, so that’s discouraged some from testing. (Another measure of the growing number of cases has been the presence of the virus in wastewater, which is tracked by health authorities.)

Your best defense against a COVID-19 infection remains the same: Keep up to date with your vaccinations, consider taking steps to limit your exposure to large indoor crowds, wear a well-fitting mask at public gatherings or in tight spaces such as an airplane or subway, and talk with your health care provider if you are feeling sick.

The new variant: The latest dominant variants of the virus causing COVID-19 in New York, known as KP.3 and LB.1, do not seem to be any more worrisome than others that came before it, and existing treatments work well against it.

“We will continue to see more variants as the virus that causes COVID-19 mutates,” says Dr. Aberg, who has been seeing more cases among her patients and writing more prescriptions for antiviral medication. “You just have to accept there is always going to be a new variant.”

The time for a new vaccine is approaching: In fact, the rise of new variants is why it is important for everyone six months and older to get the new vaccine once it is available, experts say. COVID-19 vaccines typically provide protection for up to 20 weeks before their effectiveness begins to decline. Data continue to show the importance of vaccination to protect against severe outcomes of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death, according to the CDC.

To explain to her patients why getting the new vaccine is important, Dr. Aberg will often draw a simple diagram. The diagram looks like the branches of a large tree spreading out. What’s important is that the recent variants all extend off the same main branch, so a vaccine that is effective against the variant on the preceding branch will be effective against the variants that follow that branch. The latest variants stem from a different branch than the variants in 2023 that were dominant when the 2023 formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine was developed. So the vaccine you received last year will not be as effective against the most recent variants.

One other point to consider if you plan to get the new vaccine in the fall: After you get the vaccine, it takes about two weeks for the antibodies to build up in your system. So if are getting the vaccine because you are planning to take a trip or attend a large family gathering, be sure to get it at least two weeks in advance if possible.

Tips for keeping healthy:

• Those at risk for complications from respiratory infections may want to wear a more protective mask in crowded areas, such as riding the bus or subway or shopping. A surgical mask provides some protection but not as much as a higher quality N95 or KN95 mask.

• Individuals at high-risk should talk with their health care provider and have a plan for how to get antiviral medications if they become infected with COVID-19 or the flu, as these prescription medications must be taken within the first days of symptom onset. Those at high-risk include older adults, those with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes, and those with reduced ability to fight infections, such as those being treated for some cancers.

 

Get the latest update from the Centers for Disease Control on the COVID-19 vaccines

The Mount Sinai Hospital Welcomes a New Facility Dog: Everyone’s Best Friend

Jul 29, 2024 | Featured

Dogs and humans have been best friends for a long time. In fact, the phrase “Dogs are a man’s best friend” originated more than 200 years ago.

And for good reason. Dogs offer great companionship, friendship, and loyalty, which has been demonstrated by research and by the smiles of a generation of children.

The concept of animals being used as a therapeutic approach in hospitals to treat patients was introduced in the 1970s. Animals, especially canines, bring comfort to individuals during some of their most challenging moments whether in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, shelters or other facilities.

At The Mount Sinai Hospital, dogs are humanizing health care. They bring comfort, harmony, and healing to patients, along with endless smiles, high-fives, and moments of pure happiness.

The Mount Sinai Hospital recently welcomed Summer as its newest employee in the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. The 14-month-old Labrador and golden retriever mix graduated from a training program through an organization called Canine Assistants and will serve as the hospital’s third facility dog—along with Professor and Moby—as part of the Paws & Play Program.

These beloved facility dogs offer unconditional affection and attention to faculty, staff, patients, and families. They bring a feeling of home into the hospital.

Bethany Pincus, left, and Kaleigh Bieling, are both handlers for Summer.

“Animals offer companionship and enjoyment for our patients, parents, and staff, and they create a natural therapeutic environment and bring everyone together,” says Morgan Stojanowski, MS, CCLS, Director of the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. “Whether the facility dog is visiting a child at the bedside, comforting a young patient during a procedure, or visiting a clinical unit to help the team de-stress, there is a feeling of calm and harmony in the room. These furry friends help reduce stress for our patients, parents, and staff, they are sensitive to our moods, and bring a warm happiness all around.”

A recent study led by child life specialist Ali Spikestein, MS, CCLS, Program Manager, Child Life and Creative Arts Department and the Paws & Play Coordinator, and colleagues emphasizes the impact of a facility dog and certified child life specialist duo on children’s pain and anxiety during a procedure. The study also showed the importance of child life programs and facility dog programs in pediatric hospitals, as well as the direct relationship between positive clinical outcomes.

Like Professor and Moby, Summer has joined as a full-time employee in the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. Summer’s work will focus on reducing experiences of pain, anxiety, and isolation while increasing social support and mastery within the medical setting. With guidance from her handlers, Summer will support the individual needs of the patients, whether that is by sitting bedside during a painful procedure, offering motivation during a rehab session, provide cuddles during times of uncertainty, or sharing in a play session with one of her favorite toys.

Summer is partnered with Bethany Pincus, Creative Arts Therapist, and Kaleigh Bieling, Certified Child Life Specialist, on P5, P4 South, and the Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU and PCICU) at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. Her clinical handlers prioritize patient needs and design goal-based therapeutic interventions to improve the patient’s social, emotional, and cognitive functioning while increasing overall coping and adjustment.

“The healing power of pets is incredible and, with the continued support of the Mount Sinai Health System’s leadership, we look forward to seeing the impact that the facility dogs will have easing the anxieties of our patients and families, and helping them cope in the hospital setting,” says Ms. Stojanowski. “After all, a dog is everyone’s best friend!”

Learn more about the Paws & Play program and follow the Mount Sinai Paws and Play Instagram for more updates on summer and the Paws and Play team.

Recognizing Mount Sinai’s Administrative Fellows

Updated on Jul 26, 2024 | Diversity and Inclusion, Featured

Five accomplished and motivated young professionals recently graduated from the Mount Sinai Health System’s Administrative Fellowship Program.

Tyler Nichols, MPH

The Administrative Fellowship program is an innovative two-year program managed by the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, with strong support and guidance from Human Resources and executive and senior leadership. It is designed to provide hands-on and experiential learning opportunities to advance masters-prepared individuals of historically underrepresented groups in health care leadership into managerial and leadership roles within the Health System.

Ashley Pierre, MHA

The five Fellows who completed the program this year are Hina Akmal, MHA; Aria Kumar; MHA; Estefania Lanza Rodriguez, MPH; Cordell Downes, MHSA; and Ashley Sealy, MHA. “The program is a testament to how we are creating unique talent pathways for young professionals in health care,” says Shana Dacon-Pereira, MPH, MBA, CPXP, Assistant Vice President, Office for Diversity and Inclusion. “The experience Fellows obtain throughout the program provides a foundation for their careers in health care administration.”

Michelle Yue, MPA

In July 2024, one new Fellow, Tyler Nichols, MPH, started the program with a rotation in Budget and Patient Transport. Three current Fellows moved into their second year of the program: Gabrielle De La Rosa, MHA; Ashley Pierre, MHA; and Michelle Yue, MPA. “I am looking forward to utilizing the leadership and communication skills that I obtained over the last year into my new rotations and projects,” says Ms. Yue, who worked at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and is now engaged in a rotation with ambulatory care leadership at Mount Sinai-Union Square. “I am excited that I will have the opportunity to continue to foster old and new connections with both clinical and administrative employees.”

Gabrielle De La Rosa, MHA

Ms. De La Rosa, who is completing her fellowship at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West, remarked, “I am excited to leverage the leadership, operational, and strategic skills I developed during my first year to take on more complex projects and roles and to begin my post-fellowship career planning.” Ms. Pierre, who, like Ms. De La Rosa, moved to New York and joined the fellowship at The Mount Sinai Hospital, shared, “I plan to make more connections throughout the health care industry and learn more about new trends and technologies within the delivery of health care.”

To learn more about the Administrative Fellowship Program, contact the Office for Diversity and Inclusion at diversity@mountsinai.org. Additionally, follow the Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s social media channels on Instagram and LinkedIn to explore other programs and initiatives.

Mount Sinai Administrative Fellowship Graduates Share Their Next Steps

The graduating Fellows reminisced about their fellowship experiences and shared the roles they have moved into after the program.

Hina Akmal, MHA, Data Analytics Literacy and Change Management Specialist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Hina Akmal, MHA

Ms. Akmal completed her fellowship at Mount Sinai Morningside and was instrumental in managing crucial projects and initiatives, including working closely with the Ambulatory team to open the new Mount Sinai-Harlem Health Center. Her interest in data analytics and project management influenced her final fellowship rotation, working with Mount Sinai’s  Social Determinants of Health team. Ms. Akmal’s professional interests and endeavors have led her to accept a position as the Data Analytics Literacy and Change Management Specialist at Chidren’s Hospital Los Angeles, where she will be responsible for developing and implementing programs to enhance data literacy across the organization and manage change effectively.

Aria Kumar, MHA, Administrative Manager for Mount Sinai International

Aria Kumar, MHA

Under the tutelage of senior and executive leadership at Mount Sinai West, Ms. Kumar managed a variety of projects, including the hospital’s Short Term Capital Expense Reduction Program, aiding and improving the Operating Room Turnover process, and leading Workforce Management Implementation. She also served as the Interim Associate Director of Outpatient Departments at Mount Sinai West. During her final fellowship rotation, Ms. Kumar worked with the Mount Sinai International team to consult the Georgetown Public Hospital in Guyana, where she supported the team’s Ambulatory Operations work. Having completed her fellowship, Ms. Kumar will continue working in Mount Sinai International as an Administrative Manager, where she will continue to advance international strategic partnerships and business development efforts on behalf of the Health System.

Estefania Lanza Rodriguez, MPH

 

Estefania Lanza Rodriguez, MPH, Project Manager, Cardiac Services at Mount Sinai Morningside

Ms. Rodriguez has assumed the role of Project Manager at Cardiac Services at Mount Sinai Morningside, where she also completed her fellowship. Throughout her fellowship, she worked with leadership to improve throughput via interdepartmental collaboration projects, from discharge to home and space optimization management. Prior to the fellowship program, Ms. Rodriguez worked as a medical scribe, certified nurse, and epidemiologist.

Cordell Downes, MHSA, Administrative Manager, Ambulatory Operations at The Mount Sinai Hospital

Cordell Downes, MHSA

Throughout his fellowship at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mr. Downes played a notable role in the creation and oversight of the hospital’s Discharge Lounge and the development of the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital Babies and Children’s Ambulance. His experience in rotations across various divisions, including Inpatient and Ambulatory Operations, Oncology, Strategic Planning, Admitting and Throughput, Human Resources, and Support Services, have prepared him for his current role as an Administrative Manager in Ambulatory Care Services. Beyond the fellowship, he remains an active member of The Mount Sinai Hospital Diversity Council and the New York chapters of both the American College of Healthcare Executives and the National Association of Health Services Executives.

 

Ashley Sealy, MHA


Ashley Sealy, MHA, Senior Manager, Ambulatory Operations at Mount Sinai Doctors Medical Group

Ms. Sealy began her professional journey at Mount Sinai back in 2019 as a Supply Chain intern as part of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s Administrative Internship Program. Since returning to the Health System as a Fellow in 2022, Ms. Sealy served as Project Manager for Workplace Violence at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, developed revenue cycle dashboards via Tableau for the Mount Sinai Doctors Medical Group, coordinated Mount Sinai-Union Square’s Waste Reduction Strategy, and managed the standardization of Q-Reviews benchmarks for more than 70 ambulatory practices throughout the Health System. Her journey now continues as a Senior Manager at Mount Sinai Doctors Medical Group. Having found her niche in health care analytics, strategy, and project management, she is also pursuing a Master of Science in Business Analytics degree at SUNY University at Buffalo

 

Read more About Diversity at Mount Sinai

A New Program to Screen for Lung Cancer Shows Success at Mount Sinai Morningside

Updated on Jul 24, 2024 | Featured, Mount Sinai Morningside

Javier Zulueta, MD

A new program at Mount Sinai Morningside represents a valuable tool to catch lung cancer—the  cancer responsible for the most deaths in both men and women—at its earliest stages when it is most treatable.

Harnessing the power of leading-edge technology, the Incidental Lung Nodule Program employs artificial intelligence to sift through radiology reports ordered for patients for various conditions, looking for incidental lung nodules. These innocuous-seeming spots, often discovered during routine tests for unrelated issues, can be silent harbingers of a potentially life-threatening condition.

The program is marking its first anniversary. In just one year, it has identified more than 3,000 patients, including smokers, former smokers, and non-smokers, who may be at risk. Of these, more than 1,500 people are being actively monitored for any changes in their lung nodules, enabling early detection and intervention.

Early detection is critical, according to Javier Zulueta, MD, Chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Mount Sinai Morningside.

“Our goal is to engage physicians, smokers, former smokers, and the public in early detection,” he says. “Through screening programs like ours, we can catch cancers early and significantly improve health outcomes.”

The program operates automatically, with computed tomography (CT) scans ordered for various conditions systematically scrutinized by computerized algorithms. For example, patients who may undergo scans for other cancers, heart disease, or following surgeries may be candidates for this program. Upon detection of a lung nodule, a multidisciplinary team, including specialized pulmonologists, steps in. Patients are quickly contacted, and a comprehensive follow-up plan is set in motion, ensuring monitoring, timely diagnosis, and treatment.

“The Incidental Lung Nodule Program shows our commitment to medical excellence and our dedication to serving the West Harlem community, which has elevated rates of lung cancer,” says Dr. Zulueta. “We offer not just treatment but empowerment through knowledge and early detection.”

Mount Sinai Health System has been a pioneer in the effort to diagnose lung cancers.  The International Early Lung Cancer Action Project, whose goal is to ensure smokers and former smokers receive low-dose CT, was started at The Mount Sinai Hospital and has expanded around the world.  Likewise, the Incidental Lung Nodule Program will be expanding across the Mount Sinai Health System.

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, not including skin cancer. Prostate cancer is more common in men and breast cancer is more common among women. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths, according to the society. Most people diagnosed with lung cancer are 65 or older.

AI Spotlight: Leveraging Generative AI to Predict ER Admissions

Updated on Jul 17, 2024 | Featured, Research

Eyal Klang, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Generative AI Research Program within the Division of Data-Driven and Digital Medicine (D3M), at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help radiologists analyze images or doctors make diagnoses with a high degree of accuracy even with traditional machine learning techniques, but they tend to require large amounts of training data to accomplish this.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are exploring using the latest technique in generative AI—specifically large language models (LLMs)—to see if it can achieve accurate predictions with less training data. Generative AI is rooted in the concept of generating new content typically by understanding data distribution.

Using a specially prepared, secure version of GPT-4—a product from OpenAI, the company that runs the popular generative AI platform ChatGPT—the team applied the model to predict admissions in the Emergency Department, based on objective data collected from patients and triage notes.

“One of the advantages of LLMs over traditional methods is that you can use just a few examples to train the model for any use case,” says Eyal Klang, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and Director of the Generative AI Research Program within the Division of Data-Driven and Digital Medicine (D3M), at Icahn Mount Sinai. “You don’t need to retrain models again and again for each use case, which is very hard when that can take millions of data points.”

“Another advantage of LLMs is its ability to explain to the user how it arrived at its answer,” says Dr. Klang. The model’s ability to explain its reasoning provides confidence for a physician to use it in assisting in making medical decisions.

Here’s an animated explainer on how Dr. Klang and his team tested GPT-4 against traditional machine learning methods for predicting whether patients who go to the ER need to be admitted.

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The study used patient visit data from seven hospitals within the Mount Sinai Health System. More than 864,000 emergency room visits were included in the data cohort. The ensemble model comprising traditional machine learning techniques achieved an AUC score of 0.878 in predicting admissions, with an accuracy of 82.9 percent. (An AUC score measures the ability to make correct positive and negative guesses, with an 0.5 score meaning the model performed no better than a random guess.)

The GPT-4 model was given the same task of predicting ER admissions, but under a few different conditions: “off the shelf” (not given any examples of patients, also known as “zero-shot”); given some probabilities of how machine learning models would perform; given 10 examples of patients with triage notes (“few-shot”); given 10 contextually similar cases (retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG); and various combinations of these conditions. In the setting with the most information provided (few-shot with RAG and machine learning probabilities), GPT-4 had an AUC score of 0.874, and an accuracy of 83.1 percent—results statistically similar to the ensemble model.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association on Tuesday, May 21.

In this Q&A, Dr. Klang discusses the team’s research.

What was the motivation for your study?

Our study was motivated by the need to test if generative AI, like the GPT-4 model, can improve prediction of admission—and thus clinical decision-making—in a high-volume setting like the Emergency Department. We compared it against older machine learning methods, as well as evaluated its performance in combination with older machine learning methods.

What are the implications?

It suggests that AI, specifically large language models, could soon be used to support doctors in emergency rooms by making quick, informed predictions about whether a patient should be admitted or not.

What are the limitations of the study?

The study relied on data from a single urban health system, which may not represent conditions in other medical settings. Additionally, our study also didn’t prospectively assess the impact of integrating this AI technology into the daily workflow of emergency departments, which could influence its practical effectiveness.

How might these findings be put to use?

These findings could be used to develop AI tools, such as those that integrate GPT-4, that support making accurate clinical decisions. This could promote a model of AI-assisted care that is data-driven and streamlined, using only very few examples to train the platform. It also sets the stage for further research into the integration of AI in health care, potentially leading to more sophisticated AI applications that are capable of reasoning and learning from limited data in real-time clinical settings.

What is your plan for following up on this study?

Our group is actively working on the practical application of LLMs in real-world settings. We are exploring the most effective ways to combine traditional machine learning with LLMs to address complex problems in these environments.

Learn more about how Mount Sinai researchers and clinicians are leveraging machine learning to improve patient lives

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