Close out Women’s History Month with new insight and fresh inspiration from women leaders at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine! Click here to register to attend.
March 23, 2022
From our first COVID test in March 2020, Texas Children’s reached the remarkable milestone of administering, analyzing and reporting 500,000 COVID tests on Feb 9, 2022. This is a significant number for a pediatric hospital, according to Chief of Laboratory Medicine and Chief of Pathology Informatics, Dr. Ila Singh. As of March 16, 531,735 patients have been tested, with 50,362 patients testing positive.
In December 2019, well before what was then called the Wuhan Coronavirus was detected in the U.S., Dr. Singh, together with Dr. James Dunn, Medical Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratories and Pathologist-in-Chief Dr. James Versalovic began to develop a viral diagnostic test. Texas Children’s was one of the first hospitals in the Medical Center to offer COVID-19 testing starting in March of 2020. Sarah Montenegro, Transition Care Program Assistant Vice President and members of the COVID-19 Testing Taskforce were able to coordinate and begin operating eight testing sites to serve Texas Children’s employees, as well as patient testing centers on units.
Navigating this new set of circumstances alongside the rest of the world brought new challenges and a new level of cooperation. Staff with expertise in Oncology testing offered their services for COVID testing, which needs a similar skill set. Along with realigning and adding lab, nursing and other staff in multiple areas to handle additional responsibilities came unforeseen challenges to troubleshoot and resolve, such as supply chain shortages and disruptions. “We had to use all the tools in our toolbox to make sure we could meet testing needs and provide accurate results in a timely manner,” said Dr. Dunn.
Numerous considerations were taken into account for planning how, where and when to offer testing; how to record, analyze, report and act on results; guidelines for visitors; and protocols for quarantining and returning to work following a positive test.
“We developed new protocols that we continue to use to help make environments safe for patients and employees,” said Dr. Singh. “Testing our patients and practicing vigilant safety protocols allowed us to keep our hospitals and clinics open and continue to provide medical procedures.”
Since that time, testing technology has evolved, allowing Texas Children’s to offer rapid tests that provide results in less than two hours, and tests that can diagnose COVID-19, as well as Influenza and other respiratory infections. Tests that look for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were developed to help in the diagnosis of Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and to determine if someone developed immunity following vaccination.
“It takes a village to execute our COVID operations,” said Dr. Singh. As she explained, many people are involved in testing, from those stationed at drive-through sites, who collect specimens, to the lab personnel who analyze specimens and report results, to pathologists who provide test interpretation, to informaticists who use testing and patient data to create reports that are used by hospital executives for making informed decisions about hospital operations. These reports are shared with local, state and federal organizations to help generate the COVID data maps that we have gotten used to seeing in newspapers.
As the Senior Project Manager for the Austin expansion (previously Director of Austin Regional Operations), Bobbie will be instrumental in setting up the culture for our Austin expansion. Learn more about her story and the Austin expansion. Read more
With more than 250 patient days of using the Cardio-Renal Pediatric Dialysis Emergency Machine (CARPEDIEM), Texas Children’s is now proud to be the largest CARPEDIEM care center in the world. CARPEDIEM was launched at Texas Children’s in June 2021 to serve our most vulnerable patients in need of continuous kidney support therapy. Since that time it has helped to effectively support several babies with kidney injury.
At a special celebration on Tuesday, February 15 with cake, punch and cheers all around, Director of the Texas Children’s Critical Care Nephrology Program Dr. Ayse Arikan thanked the team for their leadership, care and compassion for our patients. “I am immensely proud to be part of this team,” said Arikan. “This could not have been possible without all of you. As always, when you were asked for your adaptation of a new therapy, everyone went above and beyond expectations.”
“Our labor of love has led Texas Children’s to be the largest CARPEDIEM care center in the world, with four machines on standby for infant kidney support therapy,” said Arikan.
The CARPEDIEM system was originally developed in Europe, and FDA authorization was granted in 2020. CARPEDIEM is designed for use in babies with severe acute kidney injury or fluid overload. It provides continuous renal replacement therapy to patients as small as 2.5 kilograms and up to 10 kilograms.
Texas Children’s is one of seven hospitals to have this technology, and one of five hospitals who have started using it with patients. Until now, children in need of continuous kidney support therapy were using devices designed for older children. CARPEDIEM serves as an appropriate size-based therapy for our most vulnerable babies.
Based on published studies, we know acute kidney injury can affect up to one in three premature infants in the newborn ICU, according to Renal Physician Lead for CARPEDIEM Dr. Catherine Joseph. This occurrence is even more common in babies who are born extremely premature. When kidney injury is more severe and the patient does not respond to medical treatment alone, a device like CARPEDIEM can help support the baby’s kidneys by removing waste products and fluids.
“I am passionate in the care of newborns with kidney disease and invested in ways to improve outcomes for babies affected by kidney problems,” said Joseph. “To have this platform available to help support infants with kidney injury is a dream come true.”
Children born prematurely or admitted to Texas Children’s with critical illness are in the care of our pediatric critical care or neonatology providers in our intensive care units (ICU). “We are only able to deliver this CARPEDIEM technology to the bedside with the collaborative partnerships with our colleagues in the newborn, pediatric and cardiovascular ICUs (NICU, PICU and CVICU),” said Inpatient Chronic Renal Dialysis Staff Nurse Marsha Filipp.
“I am proud to be a part of this team as we reach these important milestones,” added Filipp. “It’s a wonderful feeling knowing we are making a difference and helping give more newborns a chance at life.”
March 21, 2022
Monday, March 21, 2022: 12:30 p.m.
Potential heavy rainfall event could impact evening and morning commutes
Texas Children’s leadership and the Organizational Resilience team are closely monitoring a potential heavy rainfall event that could impact Austin, Beaumont, College Station and Houston starting this afternoon and through tomorrow morning. The team is also monitoring any potential impacts on schools, roads and utilities.
Along with the heavy rainfall and localized flash flooding, there is a chance for strong winds (30-35 mph gusts), lightning, possible hail and localized tornadoes. Widespread rainfall totals of 2-4” are expected with locally higher amounts.
For resources to monitor travel and road conditions, visit Houston Transtar and Drive Texas. For localized updates, see below:
- Austin: Storms are expected to move through from 1-9 p.m. today with the largest line of storms this evening.
- Beaumont: Storms will approach the area Tuesday morning, with the heaviest rainfall expected around 9 a.m. moving out well before noon.
- College Station: The heaviest storms are expected to move into the area around midnight and move through by 3 a.m. Tuesday morning.
- Houston: Strong to severe storms are expected starting at 9 p.m. this evening through 9 a.m. Tuesday morning with 1-3” of rain expected with higher amounts locally.
For those commuting on Tuesday morning, please follow the local news and weather for traffic and safety alerts, use caution when navigating roadways and plan for additional travel time to allow for detours around flooded areas and travel through heavy rains.
As this will occur during our morning shift change, clinical staff will conduct one-to-one hand offs. Please prepare your back-up child care plans in the case of school delays or closures. Team members at our community practices are asked to consult with their leadership about any impacts to local operations.
To sign up for emergency text message alerts, follow these instructions.
Thank you for your attention and always operating safely.
Michele Birsinger
Administrator on Call
Michelle Riley-Brown
EVP on Call
From popcorn parties to the second payout of our 1-2-3 Retention Program, Texas Children’s is making time and taking action to show our One Amazing Team that you are valued and appreciated as we build our Tomorrow, Together.
Fueled by team member feedback, Tomorrow, Together is an investment in our people and your Texas Children’s careers. The initiative rests on a commitment to make sure you are feeling supported and hopeful about the path forward.
After launching the journey in summer 2021 with a 2% pay increase and additional week of PTO for all team members, the organization started the 1-2-3 Retention Program to reward employees for their loyalty and resilience. All eligible Texas Children’s team members received the second 1-2-3 retention reward on March 18 of 2%, or 1% for new team members.
Leading up the second payout, Texas Children’s hosted a series of celebrations across the organization to express gratitude for all our team members have accomplished during this season. Relive the fun of our recent popcorn parties with this video.
To trace the steps we’ve taken in our Tomorrow, Together journey so far, visit ourtommorowtogether.org
For a personalized statement that details exactly how this investment has impacted you directly, check out the My Tomorrow, Together app here.
Your Voice Matters
Texas Children’s Tomorrow, Together commitment is also about listening and acting on your needs. Tell us what you’re most excited about as we head into the future together! Click here to participate in our latest Waggl and share your thoughts.
March 16, 2022
As you’ve seen since we began on our journey to Tomorrow, Together, building a bright future at Texas Children’s starts with listening to the thoughts and perspectives of our One Amazing Team. We know your feedback makes us better, and we’re excited to advance our commitment with another special effort to find out what’s on your mind.
Beginning Wednesday, March 16, Texas Children’s is designating 2-3 p.m. every Wednesday as protected time for culture rounding. Our executives will visit 32 areas across the organization to directly gather your thoughts on quality, safety and experience to identify and address opportunities for improvement.
Culture rounding is an evidence-based best practice that will enable our leaders to more closely engage with our teams, our patients, our members and their families, while also cultivating relationships and driving quality, safety and experience as organizational priorities.
Assistant Vice Presidents Tarra Kerr and Paige Schulz are leading the effort and plan to build on the success of an initial culture rounds pilot completed at the Medical Center campus in February. The initial pilot included four teams of two executives and a scribe who rounded weekly on a single unit for a total of four weeks. “We’ve already been able to act on the feedback that was shared, and we’re hoping for similar results in this next phase of the project,” said Kerr.
We’re listening
For the second pilot beginning this week, 16 teams will make rounds for a total of 12 weeks, ultimately covering 32 different areas. Each team will be assigned to visit 1-2 care locations for the duration of the pilot period, which will allow for relationships to form and provide an opportunity to actively track how any identified issues are resolved.
Our executives are looking forward to rounding on your teams and hearing your insights about making Texas Children’s even stronger for our Tomorrow, Together.
For more information on executive culture rounds and quality, safety and patient experience, contact Quality Specialist Kandice Bledsaw via e-mail.