After a successful run that spanned five decades, the final Impact was published in January 2020.  Impact was UTMB Health’s employee newsletter. It evolved from a one color printed tabloid newspaper to a full color magazine with a digital component. We’ve archived the past several years on these pages for your review and enjoyment.

  • logo for best care at utmb

    Best Care in Action Awards

    July 26, 2019, 02:24 AM by Impact Team

    Whether working on the front lines in patient care or in another role at UTMB, everyone contributes to Best Care. Here are a few examples of employees in different roles who are demonstrating Best Care. These employees were recent recipients of the Best Care in Action Awards.

  • Pediatric clinic makes big strides in DSRIP initiatives

    DSRIP--An Incubator for Best Care at UTMB

    June 24, 2019, 02:24 AM by Jessica Wyble

    DSRIP(Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment) program is technically a Medicaid-focused program, but at UTMB it's used as an incubator for larger population health initiatives that tackle issues like diabetes, heart disease and more.

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    Best Care in Action

    May 8, 2019, 11:10 AM by Stephen Hadley

    Whether working on the front lines in patient care or in another role at UTMB, everyone contributes to Best Care. Here are a few examples of employees in different roles who are demonstrating Best Care.

  • group photo of CMC employees who provide best care

    Best Care part of culture within CMC

    March 14, 2019, 20:15 PM by Stephen Hadley

    Favour Onwukwe, a nurse in a Hospital Galveston facility known as 7A, is just one of the 3,000 CMC employees who provides constitutionally mandated levels of care to more than two-thirds of the state’s incarcerated offenders.

  • Graphic for UTMB Discover data application

    Driven by Data: Using UTMB Discover to reduce readmissions, deliver Best Care

    January 29, 2019, 14:09 PM by Jessica Wyble

    Defined as patients who return to the hospital within 30 days of their most recent discharge, 30-day readmissions at UTMB have been on the decline recently—boasting a 14.5 percent drop over the last two years. This notable trend has saved the institution nearly $2 million and was made possible in part by the development of programs and operational measures identified through the use of the Readmissions Explorer Application within UTMB Discover--an enterprise data warehouse and analytical toolkit that, through the use of various applications within it, aggregates real-time, accurate data generated by UTMB’s mission areas.

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    Improving patient access

    December 27, 2018, 20:15 PM by Stephen Hadley

    Over the past couple of years, UTMB has changed how it approaches the delivery of care to patients, particularly as it relates to improving access. That work was recognized in October when UTMB’s Ambulatory Operations— medical care provided on an outpatient basis in primary and specialty care clinics—was ranked 12th of 48 academic medical centers nationally that took part in the FY18 Vizient Ambulatory Quality and Accountability survey and achieved four-star performance.

  • bloodclotstory

    Finding hope in tragedy

    September 8, 2018, 20:15 PM by Christopher Smith Gonzales

    Compassionate care delivered by UTMB health care professionals helped save a blood clot patient's life.

  • bestcareinaction

    Visiting by video

    August 21, 2018, 20:15 PM by Shannon Porter

    UTMB’s Ambulatory Care Management Team is always looking for ways to better serve patients. So when Information Services approached the team about participating in a video visits pilot program, they knew this was something that could benefit patients—especially those who live in rural areas.

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    On the cutting edge

    July 12, 2018, 20:15 PM by Stephen Hadley

    While continuous improvement through lifelong learning has been a key part of UTMB’s culture for years, this tenet comes to life at the Sealy and Smith Laboratory for Surgical Training, Assessment and Research (LSTAR).

  • ALWAYSaward_environmental

    Always focused on providing Best Care

    June 7, 2018, 20:15 PM by Mary Feldhusen

    The focus on providing Best Care extends well beyond the unit or clinic setting, as every employee contributes—directly or indirectly—to providing top-notch care to patients across our institution.

  • The Lab Stewardship Team

    Right test, right time, right patient: Lab Stewardship Team focuses on appropriate medical testing, improving patient safety

    March 19, 2018, 19:16 PM by KirstiAnn Clifford

    Thousands. That’s how many different laboratory tests physicians may choose from when diagnosing, screening or monitoring a patient. It’s a vast menu—including common tests that measure glucose levels or specialty tests that screen for Zika virus. However, growing evidence shows that just because a test is available, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to have it done.

  • Dr. Abe DeAnda performs a heart surgery without blood transfusion.

    Rethinking blood transfusions: UTMB’s Patient Blood Management Program focuses on better blood use, better patient outcomes

    February 23, 2018, 16:23 PM by KirstiAnn Clifford

    When Dr. Abe DeAnda trained in cardiac surgery years ago, he was given some dangerous advice. “There were a lot of old rules of thumb such as, ‘If you need to give one (unit of blood), give two,’” recalled DeAnda, who is now professor and chief of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at UTMB. “Every resident memorized that about blood transfusions. It was probably the most dangerous rule you could learn in medicine.”

  • HG Length of Stay team members (L-R): Claudia Thomas, Paulicia Grimes, Kenia Latin, Oyebamiji Adebayo, Marjorie Kovacevich, Dr. Olubgenga Ojo, Veronica Kwarteng-Amaning, Nancy Ritzmann and Angel Male.

    Continuity of care behind bars: UTMB Hospital Galveston initiative improves average length of stay, patient throughput

    January 25, 2018, 13:31 PM by KirstiAnn Clifford

    On any given day, all 110 acute care beds in UTMB Hospital Galveston are full. While some patients are preparing for discharge, new patients are brought in by bus, ambulance and vans from prison units all over the state. As the state’s aging prison population requires increased medical care, the maximum security hospital on UTMB’s Galveston Campus often faces a challenge: there aren’t enough beds to go around.

  • UTMB’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program includes an interprofessional committee that meets weekly to discuss targeted work across the institution.

    Handling antibiotics with care: UTMB's Antimicrobial Stewardship Program aims to protect health and preserve the power of antibiotics

    December 20, 2017, 09:09 AM by KirstiAnn Clifford

    Eighty years ago, infections like tuberculosis and pneumonia were leading causes of death in the U.S. Thanks to the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s, that’s not the case anymore. However, these drugs have been used—often overused—for so long that the bacteria the antibiotics are designed to kill have adapted to them, making the drugs less effective.

  • UTMB’s Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit discusses patient care plans during their daily Progression of Care Round.

    Timing it right: UTMB inpatient units focus on appropriate length of stay, planning for safe discharge

    November 20, 2017, 11:17 AM by KirstiAnn Clifford

    Every morning between 8 and 9 a.m., groups of interdisciplinary teams meet at all inpatient units in Galveston, League City and Angleton Danbury to discuss each and every patient in the hospital. They’re called “Progression of Care Rounds,” or POCR (pronounced “poker”) rounds, and for the past year, they have been making a difference in both patient outcomes and length of stay.

  • Best Care Stacked Logo

    Adding value to Best Care

    October 24, 2017, 17:24 PM by KirstiAnn Clifford

    Adding value to patient care is on the mind of nearly every health care organization across the country. As we shift from a volume-based to a value-based health care world, improving outcomes and reducing costs has become critically important.

  • Dr. Sharma speaks at the Galveston Campus celebration on Oct. 16. For more photos from all three campus celebrations, visit UTMB’s Flickr gallery at www.flickr.com/photos/utmb.

    Welcome to your 5-star academic health center

    October 24, 2017, 17:24 PM by KirstiAnn Clifford

    UTMB was among 12 U.S. academic health centers to receive the 2017 Vizient Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award on Sept. 14. Based on the final results of our Vizient survey, UTMB now ranks ninth among 107 participating organizations and has achieved 5-star performance.

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