Already well-known for achieving exceptional outcomes for our patients and their families while also fueling innovation in critical care, Texas Children’s ECMO program recently received a Platinum Level Center of Excellence designation by the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), an international consortium of health care institutions, researchers and industry partners dedicated to furthering the excellence of ECMO care, education and research throughout the world.
ECMO stands for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, a life-sustaining treatment that circulates a patient’s blood through a machine that functions as both artificial heart and lung to support a patient’s own failing organs – providing days or weeks of valuable time for the heart and lungs to rest.
The Platinum Level Award for Excellence is the highest possible accreditation an ECMO Center can receive. Texas Children’s ECMO program was one of just 13 programs worldwide to reach the platinum level in 2021 after completing an intensive application process that drew on the insights and expertise of our dynamic and multidisciplinary team.
To date, ELSO has recognized only 34 Platinum Level Centers of Excellence worldwide.
“Within critical care, we consider ourselves a learning and adaptable organism, always looking to incorporate something new that can help us do better,” said Dr. Jim Thomas, who serves as ECMO Medical Director at Texas Children’s and has 30 years of experience in the discipline.
“This accreditation is from our peers in the field. They are looking at us and comparing us to what they know about all the other centers, and they say we are in the top tier,” he said. “That’s important to us and it should be important to our patients and families. If ECMO is a possibility, you want to know you are at one of the best.”
Thomas played a central role in putting together a successful application for accreditation and crafting the narrative that brought our multi-faceted ECMO program to life for readers and evaluators. In addition to superior outcomes, ELSO considered multiple dimensions, including processes, training, safety and the patient and family experience.
“Every three years they’re coming up with new things and we ask ourselves, ‘What’s the next set of goals?’” said Cole Burgman, ECLS Supervisor and certified cardiovascular perfusionist. “Our goal for our center was platinum and we worked hard to strive for it. It takes a massive group of intelligent people from all fields to help isolate each field and answer these questions to the fullest. We pool all our knowledge and put all our experiences together.”
After treating 50-60 patients each year, the ECMO team treated 90 patients in 2020 alone and more growth is anticipated, according to Lee Evey, director of Respiratory Care and ECMO Services.
Having access to a world-class ECMO service also improves the care provided by Texas Children’s transplant centers, intensive care units, top-ranked Heart Center and other critical care programs, such as pulmonary hypertension and neonatology. Children who would not have previously been considered ideal candidates are now routinely placed on ECMO as part of their treatment plans, and ECMO is being used to treat diseases that would have been unimaginable in the past.
Staying on the cutting edge and earning such a significant status is only possible because of our dedicated and highly trained ECMO professionals – particularly frontline team members like nurses and respiratory therapists who undergo additional specialized training to become ECMO specialists who focus on patients one at a time, minute after minute and hour by hour.
“If you know your child needs care, you can look on the Internet and see the best players in the country and the world,” Evey said. “Texas Children’s has a reputation and ECMO is one specific area that certainly enhances that reputation.”
