For USF Health, 2012 was a fast-paced year in which the foundations laid for transforming health continue to gain momentum.
As we look ahead to an even more successful New Year, we strengthen our commitment to work with our partners in building an optimistic future for health care. We also take some time to celebrate our amazing progress over the last year, including the following accomplishments.
The USF Health System was established this fall, with the announcement of its first hospital partner Lakeland Regional Medical Center. The partnership is expected to create 200 to 250 new residency slots in West Central Florida, making USF’s residency program the largest in the state. The USF Health System will seek alliances with other hospitals and medical practices committed to the values of academic medicine, while continuing to strengthen collaborations with Tampa General Hospital and other longstanding partners to improve the health and well-being of the Tampa Bay region.
The $38-million USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Simulation and Learning (CAMLS), which opened March 2012, is the largest facility for the assessment of healthcare professionals’ technical and teamwork competence in the world.
The USF College of Nursing ranked a record 24th nationally in National Institutes of Health funding to schools of nursing in 2012 – making USF the top NIH-funded nursing school in Florida, public or private. Interdisciplinary centers of research excellence in symptom management, oncology/end-of-life care, women’s health, psychoneuroimmunology and veterans’ health have helped fuel the rise. See Schools of Nursing table on the BRIMR website.
The USF College of Public Health completed a survey in The Villages returned by more than 33,000 individuals – the largest-ever single health survey of older Americans. The study will be used to help understand optimum ways to improve and maintain senior health. USF Health is partnering with The Villages to create a “healthier home town.”
The USF Heart Institute was awarded $8.98 million in state and county funding. The institute focuses on regenerative medicine for cardiovascular disease, using the latest in gene and stem cell therapy, as well as personalized medicine based on an individual patient’s DNA.
The new USF College of Pharmacy was funded and continues on track with a second entering class larger than the first and an innovative curriculum built around the idea that pharmacists will be the hub of the future healthcare team. The College took a big leap forward this summer when it was granted candidate accreditation status by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, a designation that gives USF pharmacy students the same status as graduates of fully accredited programs.
The SELECT program with Lehigh Valley Health Network was successfully implemented. USF Health has completed one full year of a program that chooses medical students based on emotional intelligence and proves that a medical school-hospital combination spanning 1,100 miles is a successful model for the future.
The USF School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences opened its Center for Neuromusculoskeletal Research, with $500,000 of yearly recurring state funding. Housed in the school’s groundbreaking Human Functional Performance Laboratory, the center supports a comprehensive range of research to transform the care of neuromusculoskeletal disorders and to optimize prosthetics and orthotics.
USF Health established the framework for a partnership with Allscripts and American Well to offer “Healthcare in the Cloud” by 2013 — a first-of-its-kind in Florida opportunity for patients throughout the state to access USF physicians across the internet.
The USF-HCA statewide trauma network marked its first anniversary with more than 5,000 patients seen at five hospitals and the creation of a trauma research center to develop evidence-based research into the causes of trauma and the best ways to treat it.
PaperFree Florida was recently named the #6 healthcare information technology Regional Extension Center grantee in the nation (up from #57) by the federal government. USF Health leads the PaperFree initiative, working with area partners to assist clinicians in the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records.
USF Health partnered with Bisk Education, one of nation’s premier providers of distance education programs for professionals, to offer a new online master’s degree in Health Informatics uniquely housed within a medical school. The project responds to the growing need for technology experts as the healthcare industry adopts electronic records.
A new USF College of Public Health brand launched this fall will guide the school’s actions and bold strategic goals over the next decade.
The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and the College of Nursing were both recognized as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces initiative. They are among the nation’s select medical and nursing schools mobilizing education and research efforts to train clinicians to meet the unique health care needs of veterans and their families, including post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
The Klasko Institute for an Optimistic Future in Healthcare teamed with the USF Contemporary Art Museum to launch its first new project: The Art of Attending. The series of experimental workshops, continuing in 2013, are based on research that shows teaching clinicians high-level art skills improves their “visual literacy” and translates into more observations when diagnosing patients.
Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications. Photo of Dr. Stephen Klasko and Elaine Thompson, PhD, courtesy of Lakeland Regional Medical Center
