Record Journal — Thursday, January 31, 2008
By Jeffery Kurz, Record Journal staff

MERIDEN - On a recent morning at MidState Medical Center, John Eudy was waiting to go into the operating room for laparoscopic colon surgery.

“It’s a lot of waiting, that’s for sure,” said the 61-year-old Wallingford resident.

“I tell people we have plenty of beds, we just have people in them,” said Judy Denya.

That, at least, brought a chuckle.

Denya, a registered nurse, was in the preoperative room talking with Eudy, his wife, Geri, and their daughter, Bar­bara Sartori. It was going to take longer than scheduled to get him in to the operating room, she told them. The sur­gery was going to last at least two hours. If he was going to be in the postoperative area a long time, “we’re going to let you come in and see him,” she said.

The exchange of information is part of a MidState effort to keep patients and their families informed about what’s going on. There might not be much that can be done about waiting times, but the hospital doesn’t want that situation exacerbated by leaving people in the dark while they wait.

So for the past year Denya has worked as a nurse advocate. Her sole responsibility is to keep people informed in the surgical center.

The initiative has dramatical­ly improved MidState patient satisfaction ratings, said Gary Burke, the hospital’s quality im­provement consultant. The hospital is so pleased with the results a similar program is starting in the emergency de­partment, Burke said.

“It’s just been a major turn­around,” said Burke.

For the first time in the seven years, MidState has been partic­ipating in such surveys, the hospital ranked first among 20 surgical centers in the state for satisfaction when it came to questions about information re­ceived before surgery and nurs­es concern for comfort. The hospital also rated high in Press-Ganey measurements of comfort in family waiting areas. Those scores were based on pa­tient responses in September through November of last year.

MidState has made efforts to keep patients and families up to date at least since Meriden’s hospital opened on Lewis Av­enue a decade ago. But the at­mosphere in waiting areas in the long open hallway, called the Galleria, can leave people feel­ing left out. A team of nurses recommended that a position be dedicated to the task of keeping families informed, said Burke.

“They found Judy and it’s just been remarkable,” he said. “People are craving informa­tion and that’s what Judy can get to.”

“It’s nice to see a good idea come to fruition,” said Ann Yolles, MidState manager of pe­rioperative services. “And Judy is perfect for it.”

Before taking on the new po­sition, Denya had been an oper­ating room nurse for 19 years.

“We felt it was critical that it be a nurse that was familiar with the operating room to bridge the gap,” said Burke. “And that is being replicated in the emergency room.”

“The biggest thing is keeping families informed, because they’re not angry because they’re waiting two hours, but because no one’s come out to tell them what’s going on,” said Denya.

“You develop a relationship with them, even if it’s just for one day,” she said.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Geri Eudy, as she was waiting with her husband.

Denya’s role as liaison be­tween waiting room and oper­ating room is filled by other registered nurses when she’s off.

Before Eudy was wheeled in to the operating room, Mary Ann Ehrenwerth, a MidState nurse, told the family they’d be given beepers.

“That’s our way of finding you, so you don’t have to stay glued to your seat,” she said.