July 25, 2017

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but a Blizzard® sounds so delightful! Beat the blazing summer heat with a Blizzard® from participating Dairy Queen restaurants on Miracle Treat Day, Thursday, July 27.

Plus, it’s for a good cause. For every Dairy Queen Blizzard® sold on Miracle Treat Day, $1 or more of that purchase will be donated to your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital – Texas Children’s Hospital to help provide life-saving treatment for children in need.

Every minute, 62 children enter a CMN hospital for treatment. Over the past 30 years, the network has raised nearly $100 million to support pediatric hospitals across the United States.

To learn more, visit MiracleTreatDay.com.

July 18, 2017

Three years ago, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus opened an eight-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit thanks to a generous $1 million donation by the Lauren and Lara Camillo family. This fall, the last chunk of a $50 million capital improvement effort will expand the unit to 22 beds.

Construction on the project hit a midway point this summer and is expected to be complete in October, providing Texas Children’s West Campus and the entire Texas Children’s system with an opportunity to serve more patients and families that need our care.

Initially, 16 of the beds will be used for intensive care and six will be for acute care. Two of the intensive care beds will have negative pressure and can be used for isolation. All of the beds provide more privacy for our patients and families, as well as better visibility and workflow for our nurses and other medical staff.

Located on the fourth floor of the hospital and painted in calming pastels, the unit expansion includes two large nursing stations advanced practice provider workspace, a simulation room, nutrition room, lactation room, call room and conference space.

The patient rooms are spacious and have a private bathroom and seating/sleep area for family. The rooms are lined with windows that face outside, letting in sunlight and allowing for great views of the hospital grounds and surrounding community. The rooms also include several windows that face nursing stations and adjoining rooms, giving medical staff ample visibility at all times.

Equipment in the rooms and on the floor is robust and includes two blood gas machines for respiratory therapy and additional nurse station monitors. In the future, some of the rooms will be able to offer patients who need dialysis the capability of doing so from the comfort of their beds.

Also in the future, six of the rooms will have the ability to be converted into Neonatal Intensive Care Unit rooms. As a result, the unit will incorporate NICU design features such as a family transition room, lactation room and separate entrances to the NICU section of the unit.

“The design of this unit is extremely family friendly,” said Erica Ventura, one of three patient care managers in the PICU. “From the patient rooms to the nursing stations, everything is being constructed with the patient and the medical staff in mind.”

Karen Sripan, assistant clinical director of the PICU, agreed and said the planning and design of the PICU expansion has been going on since March 2016 and was comprehensive.

“We were very thoughtful in our design and engaged staff throughout the entire process,” Sripan said. “We also were mindful of ensuring room design consistency with the Woodlands PICU so that the layout of the rooms are familiar to staff and providers working at both campuses.

PICU Medical Director Dr. Matthew Pesek said he is very excited about the expansion and working in a space that is so geared toward patients, families and medical staff.

“Our staff will have a lot more mobility due to the large size of the patient rooms and families will have a lot more privacy,” Pesek said. “These two things alone will go a long way.”

The PICU expansion is the last project funded by a $50 million capital improvement effort that aimed at growing West Campus’ capacity and capability. To date the following projects have been completed:

  • Additional office and administrative support space for dedicated physicians and providers
  • An 18-bed expansion of the hospital’s acute care capacity, including a special isolation unit designed for children with highly contagious infectious diseases
  • Conversion of offices within ambulatory clinics into additional exam rooms to increase outpatient subspecialty access
  • A dedicated suite for Interventional Radiology service
  • A new 14 exam room clinic for Neurology, Renal & Dermatology

“Since the hospital opened in 2010, West Campus has continued to grow along with its surrounding communities,” said West Campus Assistant Vice President Sara Montenegro. “Texas Children’s is committed to continuing this growth and support of our patients and families in West Houston.”

After nearly five months of renovations, Texas Children’s recently opened an outdoor play garden for patients and their families so they can relax and have fun during their visit or hospital stay at Texas Children’s.

“The hospital can be a stressful environment for patients and their families,” said Rene Hoelker, a project manager for Texas Children’s Facilities Planning and Development. “The play garden provides a relaxing retreat for them to get away from their daily task of being in a patient room and actually enjoy their time here.”

Located outside the Abercrombie Building, a beautifully hand-painted mural greets visitors as they enter the Merle C. Donigan Play Garden. The play garden features a colorful display of child-friendly play pieces, musical instruments and plenty of shade structures, benches and lush landscape for optimal relaxation. Heat-resistant turf – green simulating grass and blue depicting rivers – keeps the ground cool during the hot weather.

“All of the play pieces were carefully designed to ensure our patients – whether ambulatory or confined to a wheelchair – can easily access the amenities offered in the play garden,” Hoelker said.

One of the biggest design challenges of this renovation project was figuring out how to creatively conceal the exhaust travelling from the underground parking garage into the play garden. Instead of just building a wall to mask the entry point, the Facilities Planning and Development team collaborated with a local muralist to transform this wall into a carefully designed piece of art.

“We started to think about what themes we wanted to design,” Hoelker said. “We came up with the four seasons. As visitors walk around the mural, it transitions from summer, spring, fall to winter.”

Muralist Sebastein Boileau and his team spent countless hours hand designing and painting the mural as well as the light tower, which illuminates the play garden at night with different shades of color depicting the changes in season.

“Since this is for the children, we incorporated a lot of animals and fun colorful elements in our mural design,” said Boileau. “We hand painted from the background to the foreground the same way you would a painting. We approached this project more like a big painting rather than a mural.”

Patients and their families in Abercrombie can also view the play garden from their patient room window. For patient families like Madison Fitzgerald, she is thankful to have this space available for her son and other children at the hospital.

“In the middle of the medical center, all you see are hospitals,” Fitzgerald said. “To see something bright and fun for the kids, something that they can enjoy that is not so scary, is a huge benefit.”

The new Abercrombie play garden was named in memory of the late Merle C. Donigan, a long-time Texas Children’s Auxiliary member who graciously donated funds to support this renovation project.

Texas Children’s has received the 2017 “Most Wired” designation for outstanding health care-based technology from Hospitals & Health Network Magazine – the flagship publication of the American Hospital Association.

The annual Most Wired survey polls hospitals and health systems nationwide regarding information technology (IT) initiatives in the areas of infrastructure, business and administrative management, clinical quality and safety, and clinical integration.

The 2017 survey of 698 participants represents 2,158 hospitals – almost 40 percent of all hospitals in the United States. Texas Children’s has earned Most Wired recognition in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

“Earning our fourth Most Wired designation reflects the hard work of the Information Services team and our many clinical and operational partners at Texas Children’s,” said Myra Davis, senior vice president of Information Services. “The survey results provide industry-standard benchmarks to measure IT adoption and meaningful use for operational, financial and clinical performance in health care delivery systems.”

Texas Children’s noted several IS achievements, including enhancements to patient safety, patient care and the patient experience. Notable accomplishments include:

Applying PPID safety standards to breast milk – IS partnered with Nursing, Pharmacy, Milk Bank, Dietary and Clinical Informatics & Training to extend PPID safety protocols to breast milk. Centers for Disease Control guidelines say feeding expressed breast milk to the wrong child should be treated as an accidental exposure to bodily fluids. The new PPID controls hold breast milk to the same safety standards as medications in order to reduce the possibility of an adverse event from a baby receiving expressed milk intended for another infant.

Automated patient meal ordering service – IS partnered with Morrison Healthcare to implement MyDining, an automated complex diet ordering interface within Epic. The system automates patient meal delivery to:

  • Enhance patient safety in acute care settings by ensuring the right patient gets the right meal at the right time, based on physician diet orders for considerations like allergies, restrictions and supplement requirements.
  • Boost patient satisfaction by tracking, reporting and improving the on-time meal delivery workflow.

The Nerve Center – IS partnered with Nursing, Physician and Transfer Center leadership to deliver technology to support the organization’s transfer of about 1300 patients a year in a way that demonstrates excellence and efficiency. The technology provides:

  • Decreased time for the transfer team out the door
  • Improved and clear documentation on patient transfers
  • Most up-to-date information needed to make the best decisions on patients coming or leaving Texas Children’s Community provider satisfaction

New app to improve patient experience – IS introduced a new “Bedside” inpatient portal at The Woodlands campus to provide medical information, entertainment options, communication benefits and instructional videos using tablet devices. The goal of MyChart Bedside is to empower patients/parents to:

  • Improve patient satisfaction
  • Enhance quality and safety of care
  • Increase MyChart usage
  • Better meet compliance objectives

“In health care today, implementation and adoption of health care technology is crucial in advancing outcomes and experiences,” said Julie McGuire, director of Enterprise Systems for Information Services. “The Most Wired designation shows that Texas Children’s is leading not only in our clinical care outcomes but in the use of technology that drives improved outcomes and advancements in care.”

The 2017 Most Wired Survey is published by Health & Hospitals Network. Most Wired results are available here.

Ashley King, January – March 2017 Leader

Your name, title and department. How long have you worked here?
Ashley King, Patient Care Manager, Otolaryngology Department. I’ve worked for Texas Children’s Hospital for 10 years.

What month are you Super Star for?
First Quarter (January – March) 2017

Tell us how you found out you won a super star award.
I arrived to our scheduled “staff meeting” and was greeted by smiling faces, balloons and a red carpet. When I entered the meeting everyone yelled “Congratulations!” Confused, I responded, “For what?” That’s when I learned I had won the super star award. I was completely surprised!

What does it mean to be recognized for the hard work you do? How has the organization helped you achieve your personal and professional goals?
It’s extremely rewarding to be recognized by such a great team of hard working individuals who I admire and enjoy working with. Throughout my 10 years with Texas Children’s, I have been surrounded by influential people – from preceptors to coworkers to managers to providers. These people have mentored me and continually challenged me to do more. And when new opportunities at Texas Children’s have presented themselves, they’ve encouraged me to continue moving forward in my career. If not for the excellent and supportive people that I’ve had the privilege of working with at Texas Children’s, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

What do you think makes someone at Texas Children’s a super star?
A super star is a person who leaves you with a memorable impression. They actively listen to others. They do more than what is asked of them. They strive to provide quality patient care. And they do all of these things with a smile.

What is your motivation for going above and beyond every day at work?
My motivation is my team, our patients, and our patients’ families. I strive every day to make our clinic an enjoyable place to work. I also work very hard to ensure that our patients and their families have a positive experience. When my team is happy and our patients are happy, I’m happy!

What is the best thing about working at Texas Children’s?
For me, the best thing about Texas Children’s is the children. No matter their circumstance, they still manage to smile and be kids. Their resilience is empowering!

What does it mean to you that everyone at Texas Children’s is considered a leader? What is your leadership definition?
It means that Texas Children’s cares about the success of its employees. That we are all considered leaders is a testament to the investment that Texas Children’s has made in each of us by providing us the training, support, and resources that we need to help carry out our fundamental mission: “To create a healthier future for children and women throughout our global community by leading in patient care, education and research.” What is your leadership definition? Leadership means listening to, inspiring, and empowering others. Leadership is serving the people around you by giving them the tools they need to be successful.

Anything else you want to share?
I am proud to work at Texas Children’s and am looking forward to continuing to grow here.

July 17, 2017

Dr. Jane Edmond has been selected to serve as president of the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus in 2020.

The organization’s goals are to advance the quality of children’s eye care, support the training of pediatric ophthalmologists, support research activities in pediatric ophthalmology, and advance the care of adults with strabismus.

Edmond is board certified and a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. She is a member of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, and has held many offices within the organization. She is an oral board examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of AAPOS. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. She is a frequently invited presenter at national and international professional society meetings and conferences. She is the recipient of the Secretariat and Achievement Award, presented by the American Academy of Ophthalmology; and an Honor Award, presented by the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. She is considered a national expert in craniofacial disorders and pediatric neuro-ophthalmology.

Edmond’s interests and specialties are:

  • Pediatric neuro-ophthalmology (brain-based vision abnormalities, optic nerve disease, pupil problems, visual impact of brain tumors or other intracranial insults)
  • Craniofacial disorders and their ocular and impact to the visual system
  • Childhood and adult eye strabismus, medical and surgical treatment (all forms of eye misalignment, double vision, eye misalignment secondary to thyroid eye disease)
  • Amblyopia

More than 50 Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands employees, physicians and their families loaded up on an oversized “wagon” and participated in the South Montgomery County July 4th parade. The annual event attracted more than 18,000 spectators who lined the 1.3 mile parade route through The Woodlands.

With over 150 parade entries competition was tough, but Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands came away with two top wins: “Best Youth Entry” and “Facebook Fan Favorite.”

“There’s only so many things you can do with a float, but we fell in love with the wagon idea because we use wagons all over the hospital to transport our patients,” said The Woodlands Community Liaison Jenny Hiser, adding there were many creative entries from other organizations. “And for this being our first year, we felt really honored to be able to win anything. It was totally unexpected.”

While some were riding on the “wagon,” others were walking along the side handing out patriotic pinwheels, tattoos, and fliers with information about the hospital.

“Although it was a hot day, my daughter and I enjoyed being a part of this community event with our Texas Children’s The Woodlands family,” said The Woodlands President Michelle Riley-Brown. “I am looking forward to doing it again next year!”