August 9, 2016

81016anesthesiasurgery640Members of the Departments of Anesthesia and Surgery recently filled the Main OR in West Tower for the 2016 Anesthesia and Surgery Rodeo.

The annual training session gives department members a chance to get hands-on experience with the latest anesthesia and surgical equipment brought in by various medical vendors.

Some of the equipment tested during this year’s rodeo include:

  • AccuVein
  • aScope bronchoscope
  • ConMed
  • Crash Cart
  • Ethicon
  • Just Right 3mm Sealer
  • Legasure
  • Malignant Hypothermia
  • Sonosite X-Porte
  • Karl Storz
  • Surgical Airway Cart

81016nursingday640Texas Children’s Nursing Professional Development and Education Council hosted the 2016 Nursing Professional Day at the Pavilion for Women Conference Center on July 14 and 15. The purpose of the event was to enhance the knowledge of Texas Children’s registered nurses in an effort to improve professional practice and patient outcomes. The Nursing Professional Day agenda was driven from the results of the Annual Learning Needs Assessment.

Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, kicked off the event with opening remarks on the value of lifelong learning and its impact on patients and nurses. To support the value of education, the event was broadcasted via telehealth to eight different sites in an effort to reach all Texas Children’s nurses.

Nursing Professional Day provided the opportunity for nurses at all levels to participate either on the planning committee, as podium or poster presenter, facilitator of a skill station or educate at an exhibit table. Twenty of the topics presented offered continuing nursing education hours.

More than three hundred nurses in attendance had the opportunity to collaborate with 15 nursing schools as they look to advance their education. Twenty-five internal exhibitors were available for the nurses to learn about obtaining their certification, joining a professional organization and how other department’s value and support the nursing role.

The presentations are available to view on the Nursing Professional Development team site. Nursing Professional Day will be held at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus on Tuesday, September 13. Encourage your nursing colleagues to attend.

81016smithvisit640On July 11, Executive Commissioner Charles Smith of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHSC) met with executive leaders at Texas Children’s Hospital and toured several areas of the hospital’s medical center campus to learn more about how we strive to provide the best care to women and children in the Greater Houston community and throughout Texas.

In his new role as THHSC executive commissioner, Smith will oversee the operation of the state’s 58,000 employees across four health care agencies, including the Medicaid/CHIP division and many health care services that impact the care that children and women receive at Texas Children’s.

Dr. Mark Shen, who serves as the chairman of the Children’s Hospital Association of Texas board and is president of Dell Children’s Medical Center, along with Stacy Wilson, president of the Children’s Hospital Association of Texas, also joined the visit and highlighted the collaboration that occurs among all freestanding children’s hospitals in Texas.

Chief of Neonatology Dr. Gautham Suresh, Vice President of Nursing Judy Swanson and NICU Nursing Director Heather Cherry toured the group through the Level IV NICU where they met with several patient families and heard their touching stories. As the state of Texas undergoes its process to designate NICU levels of care, the tour allowed our subject matter experts to educate the commissioner regarding the extensive differences between a Level 1 and Level 4 NICU.

The group also met with Dr. Christian Niedzwecki, medical director of the inpatient rehabilitation unit, and Shelley Ellison, director of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. During their tour of Texas Children’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the group discussed the concerns shared by physicians and patient families regarding Medicaid therapy rate cuts, which will impact this service line and the care provided to Texas Children’s patients with rehabilitation needs following a physical injury or medical condition.

July 26, 2016

year in review fraser 640

During his annual Department of Surgery year in review, Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr. proclaimed that anything can be done if you work together toward a common goal.

“It isn’t enough for the muscles of a crew to work in unison,” Fraser quoted from The Boys In The Boat, a book he read and referenced several times during his talk on July 22 in the packed Texas Children’s Hospital auditorium. “Their hearts and minds must also be as one.”

Teamwork, Fraser said, is the secret to the success of the Department of Surgery, which is composed of 600 employees and nine subspecialties with support from many other teams that are dedicated to caring for and improving the health of children through patient care, education and research.

The department’s team has grown exponentially during the past few years reaching 94 surgeons and 94 advanced practice providers in 2016. Many of those clinical staff members are in leadership roles, have academic responsibilities at Baylor College of Medicine and have earned awards for their service. The department also has the support of one of the largest pediatric anesthesiology departments in the county and dedicated perioperative services.

Two of the department’s newest leaders – Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Howard Weiner and Chief of Otolaryngology Dr. Ellis Arjmand – took the podium during Fraser’s presentation to talk about their vision for the divisions and accomplishments to date.

Weiner, who started at Texas Children’s Hospital in May, told the audience he joined the team for various reasons including the fact that his core values and leadership style – which encompasses outstanding surgical care, attentive service, quality and integrity, innovation and investigation – mirrors that of the Department of Surgery’s.

“When I came to visit here, I was blown away by the vision to be the national and international destination for the most world class innovative, high-quality, attentive neurologic care for children,” Weiner said. “In addition, the leadership here demonstrates an unselfish service to the team and believes group accomplishments and success are primary.”

Weiner, whose clinic interests include medically refractory epilepsy and tuberous sclerosis complex, said he hopes to use his own success to empower and support an outstanding team.

When Arjmand took the stage, he outlined the tremendous growth of his team and their proven ability to widen the scope of otolaryngological services to the greater Houston area. With more than 20 otolaryngologists, seven advanced practice providers and three fellows, members of the otolaryngology team have increased the number of outpatient visits 74 percent since 2013 to more than 35,000.

“We have made maximum use of the Texas Children’s community to reach people throughout the greater Houston area,” Arjmand said, adding that Texas Children’s has tremendous leadership and a pool of talent that is seizing opportunities each day to better serve our current and future patients.

Fraser agreed and said he couldn’t possibly list all of the department’s accomplishments but highlighted the following:

  • Outpatient visits increased 11 percent compared with last year totaling 149,937.
  • Surgical cases increased 7 percent during the same time frame to 30,696.
  • Texas Children’s Transplant Services was named the most active pediatric program in the country in 2015.
  • U.S. News & World Report rankings were strong with cardiology and heart surgery as well as neurology and neurosurgery coming in at No. 2, urology at No. 5, gastroenterology and GI surgery at No. 6 and orthopedics at No. 21.
  • The hospital was verified as a Level I Children’s Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons.
  • Department members gave almost 300 presentations, published almost 250 papers, wrote 18 book chapters and edited and/or wrote eight books.

“We have a lot going on,” Fraser said. “You are doing so much every single day, and for that I thank you.”

The future, Fraser predicted, will be more of the same with several promising research programs in the works, surgical seed grants awarded, expanded service areas, innovation opportunities and more.

“We have a lot to look forward to,” he said. “The future of the Department of Surgery at Texas Children’s is very bright.”

To watch the 2016 year-in-review presentation, click here (link will redirect to Connect).

July 19, 2016

93015JohnDormans175Chief of Orthopedics John Dormans, MD, received an honorary professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery from the School of Medicine at the University of Basrah in Basra, Iraq. He was presented with the honor at the university’s spring graduation ceremony by Thamer Hamdan, MD, chancellor of the University of Basrah. Dormans received this honor for his humanitarian work with the international pediatric orthopedic community.

72016WayneFranklin175Wayne Franklin, MD, director and founder of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program, was recently selected to participate in The Aspen Institute Fellowship, a two-year fellowship focused on strengthening the leadership of innovators across the U.S. health care ecosystem.

Called the Health Innovators Partnership and in conjunction with South Carolina’s largest non-profit healthcare system, Greenville Health System, the Aspen Institute’s primary objective for the fellowship is to create meaningful change in health care with the help of 21 newly appointed fellows, including Franklin.

Franklin and his associate fellows were selected to innovate change and improve the health and well-being of all Americans. The team – made up of experts in pharmaceuticals, public health, biotechnology, insurance, mental health and government – will collaborate to institute the advancements of America’s health.

Rima Cohen, the managing director of the fellowship, described her excitement about the fellow’s various backgrounds, energy, and expertise as being united to “tackle our nation’s most pressing health care challenges.”

72016jrreporters640A team of nurses, surgeons, and anesthesiologists from Texas Children’s Hospital’s Main Operating Room recently participated in a medical mission in Antigua, Guatemala.

The mission was coordinated by Faith in Practice, a Houston-based organization dedicated to the medical care of indigent people in Guatemala. The 44-member team that went consisted of medical and surgical staff from hospitals in the Medical Center and out of state. Among the volunteers from Texas Children’s were Drs. Olutoyin Olutoye, Oluyinka Olutoye, Robert Power, David Mann and Stephanie Cruz; certified registered nurse anesthetists Nate Jones and Megan Koudelka; and registered nurses Karen Bustos, Debra Batiste and Juan Sale.

Focusing primarily on pediatric patients, the team performed nearly 140 surgeries in just four days, including inguinal and umbilical hernias, orthopedic surgeries, podiatric cases, and dental extractions conducted in support of the people of Antigua.

“It is always a humbling experience to go on this mission trip,” said Bustos, who has been on the mission five times now. “These people come from villages eight to 10 hours away and come to us full of trust that we will make their children well.”

Sale, a first-time volunteer, said the trip was “an amazing experience, especially when you get to help the children.”

Glass, the group coordinator for Texas Children’s, said she has been participating in similar mission trips since 2002 and has gone to Guatemala 15 times.

“This activity is open to all surgeons, operating room nurses, anesthesia staff, recovery room nurses, and especially bilingual people,” Glass said, adding that financial donations will help support the mission as well as donation of unused OR supplies.

According to the organization’s website, Guatemala is considered extremely impoverished in comparison to other South American countries. Half of Guatemala’s 14 million people live in poverty, which is defined as living on less than $2 per day. In addition, the vast majority of Guatemalans have virtually no access to public health care.

In spite of these deficiencies, The Faith in Practice organization has made a significant impact on the people of Guatemala. In 2015 alone, 1,200 US volunteers travelled to Guatemala to participate in the mission activities coordinated by Faith in Practice. As a result, a total of 2,400 surgical procedures were performed and 25,000 Guatemalan patients were seen by the medical mission teams. Texas Children’s Hospital is extremely proud of this team and their selfless dedication to service.