Bench 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 subsmissions and feedback.
April 28
Countdown to ICD-10: Deadline to meet educational requirements is September 1
On October 1, Texas Children’s and hospitals across the nation will switch from ICD-9 to the ICD-10 coding system to report patients’ diagnoses and procedures. The ICD-10 codes will allow greater specificity and accuracy in describing a patient’s diagnosis and classifying inpatient procedures. Texas Children’s education teams have developed helpful tools to ensure all employees are prepared for this mandatory conversion.
“We believe that communicating the change clearly and consistently will help ensure a smooth transition,” said Texas Children’s Chief Safety Officer Dr. Joan Shook. Read more
April 28
Super Star Physician: Dr. Stephanie Marton
Dr. Stephanie Marton from the Center for Children and Women – Greenspoint is the latest Texas Children’s Super Star physician. “Every day I see patients coming in to the Center, and I directly see the impact that Texas Children’s Hospital is making in this community.” Read more
April 28
Giardino to serve on ABMQ Board of Directors
Texas Children’s Chief Quality Officer and Senior Vice President Dr. Angelo Giardino was recently unanimously confirmed to serve on the American Board of Medical Quality (ABMQ) Board of Directors. The organization is closely associated with the American College of Medical Quality of which Giardino is a distinguished fellow. Read more
April 28
Patel receives distinguished fellowship award
Dr. Akash Patel will be presented with the 2015-2016 Christopher R. Getch Fellowship Award from the Congress of Neuroligical Surgeons Fellowships Committee during its annual meeting in September. This prestigious award provides $100,000 for advanced training and is given to a neurosurgeon or fellow engaged in clinical research that promises to significantly impact the field of neurosurgery. Read more
April 28
Dr. George Bisset receives prestigious award
Radiologist-in-Chief Dr. George Bisset will be honored for his contribution to pediatric radiology at the 45th annual Sociedade Paulista de Radiologia (SPR) meeting held in Brazil. The conference is the biggest diagnostic imaging meeting in Latin America and the fourth largest in the world. Bisset will be the first non-Brazilian to receive honorary membership in this organization. Read more
April 21
New Cain Labs website promotes groundbreaking epilepsy research
Texas Children’s has launched a new website dedicated to innovative epilepsy research conducted at the Cain Foundation Laboratories in the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute and other test centers around the world. The website also includes a repository of helpful information about epilepsy treatment programs for patients and their families, including a link to Texas Children’s Level IV Epilepsy Center. Read more
April 21
Surgeon-in-chief speaks at Texas Surgical Society meeting
Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser, Jr. spoke at a Texas Surgical Society meeting on April 11 in Galveston. Fraser, who is the son-in-law of Dr. Denton A. Cooley, talked about the hospital’s 60-year history of pediatric heart surgery and the roles played by Cooley and himself. More
April 20
Texas Children’s Hospital helps determine standard of care for children with cleft lip and palate
Representatives from Texas Children’s Hospital: Dr. Laura Monson, pediatric plastic surgeon; Christy Hernandez, director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Outcomes and Impact Service; and Dr. John Wirthlin, craniofacial orthodontist, joined an international group of medical professionals, patients and parents to determine a standard set of outcome measures for children born with cleft lip and palate. These guidelines will help all institutions develp a standard treatment of care of this population of patients and will be available for implementation starting in February. Read more
April 14
Lee recognized for his contribution to fetal imaging advancements
Dr. Wesley Lee, co-director of Texas Children’s Fetal Center and section chief for women’s and fetal imaging at Baylor College of Medicine, recently received the William J. Fry Memorial Lecture Award from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM). Read more
April 14
New PAPRs help provide full complement of PPE
Texas Children’s recently acquired 30 powered air purifying respirators (or PAPRs) to protect emergency responders from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents. This addition to our PPE inventory helps ensure the safety of our health care professionals when they are treating patients with highly contagious infectious diseases. Read more
April 14
Texas Children’s, AAP partnership helps physicians advocate for their patients
Texas Children’s and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) signed a first-of-its-kind partnership agreement whereby every eligible faculty member of the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics is a member in the AAP and the Texas Pediatric Society (TPS). Since this partnership began a year and a half ago, the following Texas Children’s faculty have been actively involved with the AAP and TPS to champion the health, safety and well-being of children: Dr. Robert Voigt, Dr. Robert Ricketts, Dr. Mark Gilger, Dr. Fernando Stein, Dr. Carol Tapia, Dr. Mark Ward, Dr. Krithka Lingappan and Dr. Bruno Chumpitazi. Read more
April 14
Texas Children’s Hospital receives Healthcare Informatics Magazine’s 2015 Innovator Award
Texas Children’s Hospital has earned second place in Healthcare Informatics Magazine’s fourteenth annual Innovator Awards. The award was given to Texas Children’s for its quality improvement work to identify, deploy and measure new best practices and improve outcomes for children with appendicitis.
“We felt there was an urgent need in the health care industry to accelerate the identification and deployment of shared guidelines of care,” said Dr. Charles Macias, Texas Children’s Chief Clinical Systems Integration Officer and Evidence Based Outcomes Center director. Read more
April 14
New pediatric urologist joins Department of Surgery
Dr. Duong Dai Tu has joined Texas Children’s as a new pediatric urologist. Tu, who started April 1, has been appointed assistant professor of urology and attending surgeon in urology at Baylor College of Medicine.
“Dr. Tu is bringing an exciting vision to the surgery team that will help us continue to develop a preeminent program, enabling us to better serve our patients and their families,” chief of Urology, Dr. David Roth said. Read more
April 7
Texas Children’s welcomes new surgeon and researcher, Dr. Sundeep Keswani
Dr. Sundeep Keswani joined Texas Children’s as a pediatric and fetal surgeon and an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He also is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded laboratory. Read more
April 7
Transplant team perform 95 organ transplants in 2014
Transplant teams with Texas Children’s Hospital performed 95 solid organ transplants in 2014, continuing to serve as one of the largest, most active and successful pediatric transplant programs in the nation. The heart and the lung transplant programs were the largest in the country last year with 32 heart transplants and 16 lung transplants.
“Texas Children’s Transplant Services continues to earn its reputation as one of the best pediatric transplant programs in the country,” said Dr. John Goss, medical director of Transplant Services. Read more
April 7
CRC presents resarch award to Dr. Srivaths
The Clinical Research Center presented the Clinical Research Award for First Quarter 2015 to Dr. Poyyapakkam Srivaths, Department of Pediatrics – Renal, Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Srivaths’s research activities in the CRC focus on investigating cardiovascular morbidity associated with end stage renal disease (ESRD) in children. Read more