May 11, 2021

After winning the Get the Vaccine to End COVID-19 Drawing, the following team members tell us why they stepped up to be vaccinated and hope to inspire others.

Frank McCormick – 15.6 years of service
Advanced Clinical Specialist Physical Therapist – Physical Therapy Inpatient
Why I got the vaccine? To protect my family and potentially break the chain of transmission to everyone.

Muping Lu – 16.9 years of service
Medical Technologist – Legacy Tower, Blood Bank
The pandemic has taken away millions of lives worldwide which includes my family member and friends. The losses are painful and heart broken. I felt helpless and desperate for effective treatments, especially the vaccines. Thanks to our scientists and the leadership of our nation, I finally saw the light at the end of tunnel when Texas Children’s announced availability of COVID-19 vaccine on December 2020. I got so excited and in the meanwhile felt a little bit anxious as a lot of people have concerns about the safety of vaccines. However, I rushed to register and became the first few batches of people vaccinated at Texas Children’s.

My thoughts are pretty simple and straightforward, I firmly believe the benefit of vaccines far more outweighs their risks, and I need to do my part to help in reaching the herd immunity threshold in the community. I had slight fever during the second dose, and thanks for the help of my supervisor and colleagues, I was able to rest at home and quickly recovered. Right now, I feel total relief and a tiny firewall against COVID-19 built around me. This tiny firewall not just protects myself, it also protects my family, co-workers, patients and all the people around me. Obviously, the more people who get vaccinated, the bigger and stronger the firewall will be. It is particularly crucial right now as the current surge of COVID-19 cases and emerges of various variants worldwide. So please get vaccinated.

Dolores Hidalgo – .6 years of service
Staff Nurse – Inpatient, Legacy Tower CICU, Floor 17
I chose to get the vaccine to continue to care, serve and help those in need and to one day be able to hug and kiss my loved ones again. #weareinthistogether

To date, 80 percent of our workforce has volunteered to be vaccinated against COVID-19. If you haven’t already, schedule your vaccination appointment now, simply click here and sign up for the date and time that work best for your schedule.

May 7, 2021

This week on Mark Wallace’s blog, he reflects on the many roles our remarkable nurses play at Texas Children’s, and how we would not be who we are today without our nursing teams. Read more

May 4, 2021

Once your team reaches a 75% vaccination rate, you’re automatically eligible to win some of the hottest electronics on the market – just like these recipients! Read more

To kick off Nurses Week at Texas Children’s, Chief Nursing Officer Jackie Ward delivers a special “thank you” message to our nurses for their hard work, resilience and accomplishments. Read more

As we continue to advancing towards a reconstructed future filled with hope and anticipation, we also recognize the experiences the past year has had on our collective mental health.

According to Dr. Karin Price, Chief of Psychology for Texas Children’s: “Due to increased illness, mortality, bereavement, economic losses, school closures, social isolation, and prolonged uncertainty, adults are reporting significantly increased symptoms of anxiety and depression since the start of the pandemic. Moreover, we are beginning to see evidence that these signs of distress are not transient or short-lived, and that they have not decreased as the length of the pandemic has worn on.”

Further supporting the mental health and well-being of our strong and resilient team, Texas Children’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and Well-Being is recognizing Mental Health Awareness Month, during which we will be promoting a variety of programs and resources to help our team members purposefully commit to their own health and happiness.

Below are some key highlights of available resources. Additional tools and resources to confidentially support your mental health can also be found here.

  • Daily Mental Health and Wellness Survey
    From May 17 – 21, you will be invited to participate in an optional daily survey that will allow us to better assess the well-being of our team members and inform future outreach. This brief survey will be available to employees through the same daily screening application used before entering our facilities, in addition to our Connect site for those working in remote locations. Responses will be kept confidential and only shared with members of our Well-Being team.
  • Mental Health Online Screening: Free online screening of mental health conditions with resources and tools provided to help you understand and improve your mental health. Access this free resource at The Mental Health America website.
  • Mental Health Webinars
    The EAP team, in partnership with Cigna, will be offering Texas Children’s team members a variety of webinars on mental health and personal wellness. To register for the events listed below, please click here.

    • Overview of Behavioral Health resources
      Tuesday, May 11, from 12 to 1 p.m.
    • Burnout
      Wednesday, May 26, from 12 to 1 p.m.
    • Mental Health First Aid
      Monthly one-day online training session in HealthStream, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
      Click here for more details.

For questions or further assistance, please contact our EAP and Well-Being team at 832-824-3327. You can also visit our EAP website where you will find information on additional confidential programs, virtual care options and resources to support your mental health and well-being.

Front row – Anita Harris-Brown. Back row (left to right) – Kathleen Ulanday, REgina Wysocki, Pippa Andrews-Brown, Lakeesha Etienne

The Smart Pump Interoperability Project recently went live at the Medical Center, West Campus and The Woodlands, thanks to a committed team that pushed forward to bring the innovative technology to Texas Children’s despite disruptions from the ongoing pandemic.

Smart pumps are known to help prevent adverse drug events, especially when linked with electronic health records. These pumps include auto-programming, which allows for specific medications to be transferred directly from a patient’s records to the smart infusion pump, and auto documentation, which allows information like start and stop times to be sent electronically.

To support the project, a total of 2,111 Texas Children’s nurses completed Alaris Interoperability training and gained the skills to improve medication safety and quality practices, and reduce infusion administration errors.

Epic Trainers, Nursing Professional Development Specialists and Clinical Nursing Informaticists collaborated to deploy the training, which was provided as part of nursing education at the system level with the support of Biomedical Engineering, Information Services and Pharmacy. The curriculum included 15 online learning modules with video demonstrations and learner engagement simulations, followed by live hands-on practice.

Additionally, more than 230 nurses served as Interoperability Skill Validators and used the Rover, Alaris pump and Epic EMR integration in an interactive training environment to prepare in-patient and Emergency Center nurses to implement the new practices in time for go-live on January 19 at the Medical Center/Pavilion for Women, and February 9 at West Campus and The Woodlands. Tabletops were conducted with various specialties to assist in preparing clinicians, and a clinical readiness training video was livestreamed with the help of the Simulation Center to give nurses a view of workflows and answer their questions.

Making the project happen

The go-live was implemented in two phases to ensure that nursing staff and those working behind the scenes at each campus would have the necessary support. During the transition at Medical Center/the Pavilion, 233 current infusions were connected to smart pump interoperability. At West Campus and The Woodlands, 35 infusions were connected within just a few hours.

At the center of the effort was the Clinical Subgroup, which drove all decisions and clinical practice. The subgroup consists of clinical nurse specialists and nurse educators from across the organization.

Also instrumental were informatics resource liaisons (IRLs), who worked along with the IS Command Center to help centralize calls surrounding the project. IRLs validated other bedside nurses with hands-on demonstrations; provided necessary feedback related to decision on workflows impacting the project; relayed necessary concerns and information from other bedside staff; and provided hands-on support while maintaining their own patient care load. As trusted liaisons, IRLs communicated problems to IS and communicated their findings and additional information back to their units.

A particular point of pride was the interaction at the unit level, which proved critical to the project’s success. Led by CVICU Clinical Specialist Lauren H. Salinas, nursing staff prepared their units by providing a worksheet to transition their current infusions. At the Pavilion for Women, High- Risk OB Clinical Specialist Tara Barrick and RNC-OB Educator Coordinator Melinda Trussell led the way in validating their staff by adopting the theme, “Operation Interop.”

Praising the project’s success

Nursing staff and vendors who supported the project had plenty had of good things to say about bringing the Smart Pump Interoperability Project to life:

  • “It was easier than I thought; we should have done this earlier.” – 14WT RN
  • “The modules made this way scarier than it truly was.” She said “I felt like I was going to forget something when it’s actually just 2 more steps to our BCMA process.” – 12WT RN
  • “So far, it’s been a smooth transition with no major issues!” – West Campus PICU RN
  • “Back association is beautiful where I never have to guess and go all the way back in the MAR then document my fluid. With back association, it all pulls in and do it right there at the bedside with another nurse.” – RN Float Nurse West Campus
  • “That is excellent work! The average pumps go live will see organizations hover at around 70% compliance for the first week, so we’re trending above that which is great news.” – Bryan K. (Epic TS)
  • “This is the best go-live I have ever supported. Expect some phone calls from our other pediatric customers.” – BD support team

After winning the Get the Vaccine to End COVID-19 Drawing, the following team members tell us why they stepped up to be vaccinated and hope to inspire others.

Shammail Barsenas – 9.8 years of service
Staff Nurse – Inpatient, Pavilion for Women
I am grateful to have won the drawing and will put my prize to good use. I appreciate the hospital doing this for the employees. The reason that I chose to get the COVID-19 vaccine is to not only protect my family as well as myself but to also protect my patients that I take care of in Neonatal ICU. The babies deserve every fighting chance that they can get! Thank you for this opportunity.

Frank Stowell – 16.9 years of service
Lead Philanthropy Advisor
Texas Children’s Hospital is a great mission with an incredible team. I had no hesitation at all in signing up for the vaccine. I saw Mr. Mark Wallace, Dr. Julie Boom, Ms. Michelle Riley-Brown, Mr. Jermaine Monroe and Dr. Peter Hotez among the first in line to receive a vaccine. I respect and admire these individuals. I know that Dr. Hotez and his team have been working on this vaccine for years. I have heard Dr. Boom advocate on behalf of vaccines for years. I have great trust in this organization. Receiving the vaccine is the right thing to do for our patients, our community, our family, our colleagues and for ourselves. Too many people have lost their fight against COVID. We should all take steps to make sure we are fully vaccinated. I am so very thankful we were among the very first to have this access. Texas Children’s is a great place to work!

Deborah Witmer – 3 years of service
Sr. Systems Analyst – Epic
I am so thankful and proud that Texas Children’s Hospital offered the COVID-19 vaccine to employees so early in the fight against this pandemic. Not only did getting the vaccine offer me protection but it also offered protection to other members of my family and to our patients and co-workers. Getting the vaccine is one way that I, as an individual, can help in the fight against COVID-19. I continue to encourage everyone I know to take this protective step. Supporting each other is so important. Thank you, Texas Children’s Hospital, for taking care of us.

To date, 80 percent of our workforce has volunteered to be vaccinated against COVID-19. To celebrate this achievement, we have decided to extend the $1,000 Prize Drawing and the Winner’s Choice Drawing through the end of May! We’ve had such a remarkable response from our participants and we want to keep up the strong momentum with these fun and exciting programs. If you haven’t already, schedule your vaccination appointment now, simply click here and sign up for the date and time that work best for your schedule.