April 8, 2014

4914carefirst640

Intense study focuses on critical needs of main campus core areas

At the beginning of this year, some pretty exciting things happened at Texas Children’s: a new system-wide mission statement announcement, celebration of the organization’s 60th birthday and the groundbreaking of the new Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands. But something even bigger and more imperative was going on behind the scenes: CareFirst.

In January, Texas Children’s launched CareFirst, an intense study of the core areas throughout the main campus. It involves a rigorous, eight-month planning process to help evaluate the hospital’s critical needs and set the right course for the future.

CareFirst initially will center around the needs of three areas:

  • the Emergency Center
  • Critical Care
  • Operating Rooms/PACU.

View this video to see why these areas need our attention.

“In the past several years, we’ve grown our programs and our physical footprint in the community to provide care where there was growing need,” said President and CEO Mark A. Wallace. “CareFirst is about focusing on the pressing needs at our main campus and reinvesting in the core clinical areas.”

In a video Wallace distributed last week, he documented a recent visit to the three core areas. In the videos, Dr. Paul Sirbaugh takes Wallace through the Emergency Center, which receives 50 percent of all 911 and EMS transports in Houston. In the Operating Rooms/PACU, Dr. David Wesson and Judy Swanson explain how some rooms barely accommodate the advanced technology required to take care of our patients. And in Critical Care, Dr. Lara Shekerdemian and Dr. Paul Checchia describe the balancing act involved in taking care of patients who now are surviving because of the care we provide and subsequently requiring longer hospital stays in our over-crowded ICUs.

CareFirst is such a high priority that Texas Children’s Board of Trustees, administrative leaders at all levels, physicians and many Texas Children’s employees have been engaged in the effort. The work teams are dedicating considerable time to CareFirst to move thoughtfully, but swiftly, and Wallace plans to unveil the findings and plans for the next stage of CareFirst at the beginning of fiscal year 2015.

“This will be one of the most difficult initiatives we have ever undertaken,” Wallace said. “Many areas will be impacted, and at times, this is going to challenge us. But I know it is the right thing to do for our patients and their families. It’s about ensuring that exceptional care continues to be first and foremost at Texas Children’s.