January 26, 2016

12716Pederson175Texas Children’s Hospital is excited to welcome Dr. William Pederson, a highly-regarded pediatric hand surgeon, to the Department of Surgery. Pederson, whose appointment was effective in January, is also a professor of surgery and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.

“With the addition of Dr. Pederson to our internationally renowned team of experts, we will further expand the highly-specialized, multidisciplinary care offered to children, adolescents and families who seek treatment at Texas Children’s,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of plastic surgery at Texas Children’s and Baylor.

Pederson’s clinical interests include the management of vascular problems in the upper extremity, nerve injury and repair including brachial plexus, Volkmann’s ischemic contracture, facial paralysis and microsurgical reconstruction of complex extremity defects.

A native Texan, he is an honors graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and received his medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. He completed an internship and residency in surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. Pederson continued his medical education with training in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and was a Christine Kleinert Fellow in hand surgery in Louisville, Kentucky. Following this, he completed a one-year fellowship in microsurgery at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Pederson was previously on the faculty at Duke and subsequently served as chief of plastic surgery at the U.T. Health Science Center in San Antonio. He later joined Dr. David Green at The Hand Center of San Antonio. He was the Hand Surgery Fellowship Director at this center for the past 10 years and has helped train more than 80 hand surgeons in the past 25 years.

A member of numerous professional organizations, and in recognition of his many contributions to the field, Pederson was elected president of the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery in 2005. He also has served on the executive council of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and is currently vice president of the American Association for Hand Surgery. Pederson was named a director of the American Board of Plastic Surgery in 2013, and serves on the Combined Committee on Surgery of the Hand with members of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. He is also on the executive council of the World Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery.

Pederson has authored more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed literature and 40 textbook chapters. He is an editor of the textbook “Green’s Operative Hand Surgery,” and serves on the editorial boards of the “Journal of Hand Surgery” and the “Journal of Reconstructive Microsurgery.” Pederson serves on the dean’s advisory council of the College of Natural Sciences at U.T. Austin and is a consultant to the Texas Medical Board. He was recently appointed by the state to the Texas Medical Disclosure Panel. In 2011, Pederson was selected as a visiting professor for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and was selected in 2012 as a visiting professor for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

12716Threecardiologistsinside640Texas Children’s Heart Center has welcomed three new pediatric cardiologists to the team. Drs. Tobias Schlingmann, Betul Yilmaz and Justin Zachariah joined Texas Children’s in July.

“We are thrilled to welcome three new cardiologists,” said Dr. Daniel Penny, chief of cardiology at Texas Children’s Hospital and section head and professor of pediatrics-cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine. “Drs. Schlingmann, Yilmaz and Zachariah bring expertise which will help us continue to remain a preeminent cardiology program and better serve our patients and their families.”

Schlingmann, who also serves as an assistant professor of pediatrics-cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine, received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Hamburg, Germany. He completed his residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital. Furthermore, he completed a senior fellowship in non-invasive cardiac imaging at Boston Children’s Hospital. Schlingmann’s clinical interests include the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease in infants, children, and adolescents in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.

Yilmaz, who also serves as an assistant professor of pediatrics-cardiology at Baylor, earned a combined Bachelor of Science and medical degree at Istanbul University. She did basic research in genetics at the University of Chicago Medical Center and completed a pediatric residency at Washington University in St. Louis and a pediatric cardiology fellowship at Columbia-Cornell University Medical Centers. She also completed an advanced imaging/fetal cardiology fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Yilmaz’s clinical interests include utilization of advanced cardiac imaging modalities such as echocardiography and fetal echocardiography to improve the diagnosis and management of congenital heart disease in fetuses and in pediatric population.

Zachariah, who also serves as an assistant professor of pediatrics-cardiology at Baylor, earned Bachelor of Arts degree at Rice University and medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine. He earned a Masters of Public Health from Harvard University and completed his pediatric residency at the University of California San Francisco. He also completed a clinical cardiology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and a visiting research fellowship with the Framingham Heart Study, supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Zachariah’s clinical interests include preventive cardiology in order to help patients avoid future cardiac disease and events such as heart attack and stroke through early detection and intervention.

October 20, 2015

102115LeeWoodruffGrandRounds640Her husband went from telling the evening news to being the news and Lee Woodruff took on a role no one could have predicted. When ABC News Anchor Bob Woodruff was injured by a roadside bomb while reporting in Iraq, Lee immediately took on the role of a lifetime, caretaker to a loved one with a traumatic brain injury.

With four children waiting for their dad to come home, Lee was determined to walk out of those hospital doors with her husband, but there was a long road to that day.

Woodruff was invited to Texas Children’s by Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark W. Kline who asked her to speak at the Department of Pediatrics grand rounds expressing her patient perspective.

“You probably don’t hear this from us as patient families enough, but thank you,” Woodruff said to the group. “As you do your job, I hope you remember that families heal together so include them in the equation.”

Woodruff asked the auditorium full of physicians to remember to care for the entire family. She recalled a turning point during her husband’s hospital stay when someone asked how she was doing. A moment she won’t forget, patient-and-family centered care at its core.

For Woodruff, whose husband endured a difficult path to recovery, there is one message she finds most important. While being sensitive to not give false promises, she asked providers to think before the difficult discussions.

“Just think, ‘how can we have this conversation differently?’” Woodruff said. “How can you leave room for hope?”

For Woodruff and her family, it was the nurses who provided that hope by sharing stories of success and survival of other patients who had brain injuries similar to that of her husband. Woodruff held on to that hope and eventually did see her husband wake up, regain his strength and recover from his brain injury. She said those few months in the hospital changed her perspective and left her forever grateful to the work of those dedicated to healing the sick.

Bob Woodruff did eventually walk out of that hospital room with his wife and continues to report at ABC News. Now a CBS news contributor and New York Times best-selling author, Lee has partnered up with her husband to use their experiences in inspiring groups like the physicians at Texas Children’s and help wounded veterans.

October 6, 2015

bench-and-beside-Header2Bench and Bedside is a digest of the previous month’s stories about the clinical and academic activities of our physicians and scientists. We welcome your submissions and feedback.

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Pulmonary hypertension team hosts the painting party, proceeds benefit PHA

Physicians and staff with Texas Children’s Pulmonary Hypertension Program hosted a tile painting party on August 22 where patients transformed ceramic tiles into colorful pieces of art. The event benefited the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. Read more

September 9

Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus expands urology services

Urology services at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus have been extended to meet the needs of patients in Houston and its surrounding area. Read more

September 9

Dormans sets sights high for future of Orthopedics Department

Chief of Orthopedics Dr. John Dormans joined Texas Children’s three months ago and has already developed a plan to make the Texas Children’s Orthopedics Department one of the top programs in the world. His plan focuses on three main areas – recruitment, operations and facilities, and reputation and expertise. Read more

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Hair receives 2015 Clinical Faculty of the Year Award

Dr. Amy Hair, a neonatologist and director of neonatal nutrition at Texas Children’s, recently received the Baylor College of Medicine’s 2015 Clinical Faculty of the Year Award for demonstrating “exemplary performance of activities that are above and beyond the scope of assigned responsibilities.” Read more

September 9

New program offers emotional healing for parents of special-needs children

Texas Children’s Geneticist Dr. Christian Schaaf and his colleagues developed a support program that helps parents cope with the emotional challenges of caring for children with developmental disabilities by learning to let go of things they cannot control. Read more

September 15

Clinical Research Center/Research Resources Office presents research award to Dr. Wenderfer

The Clinical Research Center/Research Resources Office presented the Clinical Research Award for Third Quarter 2015 to Dr. Scott Wenderfer, Department of Pediatrics-Renal, Baylor College of Medicine. Wenderfer’s research activities focus on Inflammatory Kidney Diseases and Lupus Nephritis. Read more

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Texas Children’s patients, staff create shared memories at Camp Spike N Wave, Camp Periwinkle

Every summer, Texas Children’s staff and their patients make the 90-mile trek to Camp for All, a 100-acre, barrier-free recreational facility where children with complex medical conditions experience the thrill of camping just like other kids their age. More than 185 children with epilepsy attend Camp Spike N Wave and roughly 185 patients from Texas Children’s Cancer Center go to Camp Periwinkle. Read more

September 29

Dormans presides over 50th annual meeting of SRS

Dr. John Dormans, chief of Orthopedics at Texas Children’s Hospital, completed his year as president of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) at the 50th anniversary meeting in Minneapolis September 30 to October 3 and presented one of six special lectures titled, “Neural Complications in Spinal Deformity: Detection and Avoidance.” Read more

September 29

Dr. Swathi Bataji joins Pediatric Surgery

Dr. Swathi Balaji has joined the Pediatric Surgery Research Laboratory at Texas Children’s Hospital. Balaji also has been appointed assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Read more

September 29

ICD-10 debut: New coding system launchess at Texas Children’s October 1

On October 1, Texas Children’s and other hospitals around the world switched to the ICD-10 coding system that will allow greater detail and precision in reporting patients’ diagnoses and procedures. For more than a year, Texas Children’s ICD-10 preparedness teams worked diligently to ensure all employees were prepared for the mandatory October 1 conversion. Read more

10615PICS300September 29

Heart Center physicians perform two cases broadcasted to live audience

Heart Center physicians performed two pediatric interventional cardiac care cases for the Pediatric and Adult Interventional Cardiac Symposium. The cases, which were performed at the Main Campus, were transmitted live to the conference in Las Vegas, Nevada via satellite. Read more

July 21, 2015

72215ICD10640In less than 72 days, the codes that health care organizations use to report medical diagnoses and inpatient procedures will become standard across the globe. The federally-mandated conversion from ICD-9 to the expanded ICD-10 coding system will be implemented on October 1. This universal system will help us gather more accurate data, make more informed decisions and ultimately help us achieve better outcomes for our patients.

Texas Children’s ICD-10 preparedness teams have been working diligently for more than a year to ensure we are ready systemwide for this transition. We need you to be prepared as well. If you are a provider or a coder or work in any of the other impacted roles, make sure you complete the required training and education needed to ensure readiness.

Our goal is to reach 100 percent compliance by September 1, which is less than six weeks away.

Based on the latest education compliance statistics, we have a lot of work ahead of us to successfully achieve this organization-wide endeavor. Currently, 11 percent of Texas Children’s providers and 7 percent of nonclinical employees have completed their mandatory educational requirements. By educating ourselves over the next few weeks, the result will be a smooth transition come October 1.

Texas Children’s has partnered with Baylor College of Medicine to provide e-learning videos for our medical staff. Each clinical service area and identified departments have been assigned a self-paced learning module. The ICD-10 education team has prepared an area-specific curriculum for nonclinical employees that is available online through Health Stream.

To access the ICD-10 physician learning modules:
Go to www.healthstream.com/hlc/bcom.

Step 1: Enter your user name and password to log in:

  • Baylor providers – enter your current Baylor user ID and your employee identification number (typically a 5 or 6-digit number. If you need to reset your password, contact the Baylor Help Desk at 713-798-8737.
  • Texas Children’s and Texas Children’s Pediatrics providers – enter your NT login (Epic login). Then, enter this password: icd10. You will be prompted to reset your password.

Step 2: Access your specialty’s courses:

  • Select the My Learning tab at the top left of the screen
  • View the list of courses required for your specialty
    • Note: The assessment at the end of the course must be completed in order for the course to be marked as complete.
  • Optional: If you are interested in accessing other courses:
  • Click on the Catalog tab
  • Type in the specialty of interest to enroll in an additional course

All of the courses have been reviewed and approved by the appropriate section lead.
Note: CME credits are available for the general courses. These courses require a pre- and post-quiz to fulfill CME credits, and only on their completion will the courses be marked “complete.”

If you have questions with the Precyse learning modules, email Marcy Medlak at mamedlak@texaschildrens.org

To access the ICD-10 nonclinical learning modules:

To view, log into Health Stream (http://decisioncritical.ad.texaschildrenshospital.org/)

Step 1: Choose student/manager role. The courses are directly assigned to you.

Step 2: Click “Enroll in this course” to view.

Below are links to a quick fact sheet and helpful sites with basic information on ICD-10 to see how this change will impact your own medical record documentation:

ICD-10 Video
ICD-10 Fact Sheet
ICD-10 Industry Updates
ICD-10 Myths and Facts

June 9, 2015

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Two Texas Children’s pediatric urologists recently were honored and recognized by the Society for Pediatric Urology.

Pediatric Urology Fellow Dr. Jason Au was recently awarded the top prize at the Society for Pediatric Urology / Society of Fetal Urology / American Urological Association Annual Meeting for his case presentation, “Urologic Considerations in the Separation of Conjoint Twins.” Au was recognized for excellence and innovation in case presentation. The national meeting is the largest of its kind in the world providing unparalleled access to groundbreaking research, new guidelines and the latest advances in urologic medicine.

Dr. Chester Koh, director of the Pediatric Robotic Surgery Program at Texas Children’s Hospital, was appointed to serve a three year term on the Society for Pediatric Urology Executive Council. In this capacity, Koh will serve on the governing body of the main professional organization for pediatric urologists that oversees the society’s activities. His term will run from 2015 to 2018. The Society for Pediatric Urology is a non-profit society whose main purpose is to promote pediatric urology, appropriate practice and education, as well as exchanges between practitioners involved in the treatment of genito urinary disorders in children.

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Texas Children’s pediatric pulmonologist Dr. Julie Katkin has been an active, engaged member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for several years.

Katkin has been involved with the AAP Section on Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine (SOPPSM) not only as a member, but also as a past section program chairperson, where she continues to improve the health and quality of care for infants, children and adolescents.

Katkin has been a working member of the SOPPSM Executive Committee for 10 years and is currently in her second term as chairperson for SOPPSM. Katkin also has served on the Project Advisory Committee for the Medical Homes Chapter Champions for Asthma project and currently serves in that capacity for the revamped Medical Homes Chapter Champions for Asthma and Anaphylaxis project.

Contributions from members such as Katkin are critical as the AAP works hard to respond to the needs of subspecialists. If you see Katkin, please shake her hand and ask her how she got involved with AAP. The AAP is very grateful for the hard work she’s done and we hope you’ll join her as Texas Children’s and the AAP work together to help kids. Learn more about TCH Group Members in Action.

Click here to find out how Texas Children’s partnership with the AAP helps physicians advocate for their patients.