November 8, 2016

11916compliancelancelightfoot175At Texas Children’s, doing what’s right is of the utmost importance to maintaining the quality of care we provide our patients, their families, and our Health Plan members. That’s why the role of the Compliance and Privacy Office is integral to our organization’s health and success.

The office’s team is committed to maintaining the highest ethical, legal and professional standards by providing leadership and oversight of all Texas Children’s business practices. Areas of prominent interest to the office include:

  • Safeguarding protected health information
  • Adhering to private payer billing standards
  • Complying with all state and federal laws and regulations as well as Texas Children’s policies and procedures

“At Texas Children’s, we are committed to leading tirelessly in maintaining an ethical workplace,” said Texas Children’s Vice President and Compliance and Privacy Officer Lance Lightfoot. “By upholding the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior, we enable Texas Children’s to better fulfill its important mission of creating a healthier future for children and women.”

To recognize and promote the importance of integrity and ethics at Texas Children’s, the Compliance and Privacy Office will be celebrating National Corporate Compliance and Ethics Week (Monday, November 7Friday, November 11) by hosting a series of awareness events throughout the organization. These events are wonderful opportunities to meet members of the Compliance and Privacy Office team, learn more about what they do, play games and win prizes.

The events also offer a chance to keep your personal information secure as well as our patients’ and our Health Plan members’. Twice during National Corporate Compliance and Ethics Week, the office is providing employees a free, safe and secure opportunity to destroy any confidential personal documents that are ready for disposal. The Shred Days will be held Tuesday, November 8 at West Campus, and Friday, November 11 at Main Campus. For a complete schedule of this week’s events, click here.

For more information about the Compliance and Privacy Office click here and if you have any questions, please call the office at Ext. 4-2085 or send an email to compliance@texaschildrens.org.

How can you help?
Unethical, illegal or questionable activity should be reported to one of the following sources:

  • Your immediate supervisor
  • The Compliance and Privacy Office at Ext. 4-2085
  • The Texas Children’s Confidential Hotline at 1-866-478-9070 (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week)

Retaliation for voicing concerns made in good faith is a violation of Texas Children’s policy.

11916marshallthomas175Marshall Thomas, patient transporter for Patient Escort-Facilities Operations Division, died October 31 at the age of 58.

Marshall joined Texas Children’s Hospital in 1998 and provided excellent patient care for the next 18 years. He was known for his dependability and hard work – always the one who was more than willing to share his knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual advice with others on the job.

Everyone who has known Marshall will miss his understanding smile, distinctive calm, peaceful demeanor, and remarkable humility.

He is survived by his wife of 14 years, Sharon; daughters, Rasheba Telford and Michelle Thomas; son, Marshall Glenn Thomas Jr.; sisters, Roslyn Donaie, Shelia Thomas and Debbie Ben and four grandchildren.

Upcoming services

Saturday, November 12
Viewing: 8:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Funeral service: 10 a.m.
St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church
4600 Reed Road
Houston, TX 77051-2857
713-738-2311

Tuesday, November 15
Memorial service: 2:30 p.m.
Texas Children’s auditorium, Abercrombie Building, B1 Level

November 1, 2016

11216drshook175Chief Safety Officer Dr. Joan Shook received the 2016 Jim Seidel Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency Medicine at the AAP National Conference on October 22 in San Francisco. The award recognizes members who have provided exceptional service to the section and to the field of pediatric emergency care.

11216drbrenner175Dr. Malcolm Brenner was recently named a member of the National Academy of Medicine, a prestigious panel of doctors that advises federal officials on health issues. Brenner is the director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, which is responsible for stem cell transplant programs at Texas Children’s and Methodist hospitals.

As a clinician-scientist, Brenner has pioneered basic and clinical research focused on use of gene transfer to augment the immune response to tumors. His contributions have led to the development of genetically modified T cells that can safely and effectively target cancer tumors.

Brenner has received many awards for his work including the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy Outstanding Achievement, the American Society of Hematology Mentor Award and the Pioneer Award from the peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy in recognition of his scientific achievements and leadership in the field.

This honor from the National Academy of Medicine was bestowed to Brenner during the academy’s annual conference on October 17.

11216drgeorgeverghese175Texas Children’s is proud to announce Dr. Verghese George as the new division chief of women’s radiology at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women.

George, who also serves as associate professor of Radiology at Baylor College of Medicine, received his medical degree from the Armed Forces Medical College in India. After completing four years of residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology in India and the United Kingdom, he pursued residency training in Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Subsequent to this, he moved to the U.S., and completed three fellowships: Abdominal Imaging (University of Washington), Body MRI (Yale University) and Nuclear Radiology (Yale University).

As new division chief of women’s radiology, George will merge his prior Ob/Gyn training with his clinical interest in Women’s imaging. His research interests include placental and pelvic floor imaging, and imaging of chronic pelvic pain including pelvic congestion syndrome and vulvodynia. His work focuses on multimodality abdominopelvic radiology in the adult population.

October 25, 2016

Angela Logan held up the sleeve of her Halloween-themed scrub and looked stoically ahead as a nurse with Employee Health & Wellness gave her an annual flu vaccine.

Logan, a certified medical assistant, said during one of Employee Health and Wellness’ recent flu vaccine events that she’s been getting the flu shot since she was 14 or 15 years old.

“My mom was a pediatric nurse and she always encouraged me to get it,” Logan said. “She told me it was to protect myself and those I love and care for both at home and at work.”

So far this flu season, Logan is one of 7,000 Texas Children’s employees who have gotten their flu shot, bringing our vaccinated employee population to 60 percent. The remaining 40 percent of Texas Children’s employees are highly encouraged to get their free flu vaccine from Employee Health and Wellness at one of the remaining flu vaccine events or by contacting Employee Health and Wellness to schedule a time to come by the Employee Health Clinic to receive a shot.

Click here for flu vaccine event schedules and here to see pictures from one of the events. It is recommended that employees complete their online consent form via the Employee Health and Wellness Portal before attending a flu vaccine event – click here for instructions. However, employees are able to fill out the consent form at the events as well.

Texas Children’s provides the seasonal influenza vaccinations at no cost to:

  •  Texas Children’s employees
  •  Texas Children’s medical staff
  •  Texas Children’s volunteers
  •  Baylor College of Medicine employees working in Texas Children’s facilities
  •  Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Texas Children’s Health Centers and The Center for Women and Children will receive separate instructions from their leaders about seasonal flu vaccination.

Influenza (the flu) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness and can even lead to death. Older people, young children, and people with certain health conditions are at high risk for serious flu complications. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting vaccinated every year.

“The benefits of not having to worry about the flu and the benefits of not having to worry about giving the flu to someone else are way better than any side effects that are common from the it,” said Dr. David Huss, a resident with the Child Neurology Program. “Your arm might be sore for a couple of days but that’s worth the cost.”

Stay tuned for updates about Texas Children’s seasonal vaccination program. If you have questions, please call Employee Health at 832-824-2150, option 1.

For more information about the flu and the flu vaccine, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website here.

October 18, 2016

101916patientsafetyinside640Texas Children’s was recently named October 2016 Hospital of the Month by Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) in recognition of our outstanding achievements in cultivating an environment of safe patient care.

The SPS is a network of more than 80 children’s hospitals across the U.S. that share a common vision that no child will ever experience serious harm while we are trying to heal them.

“At Texas Children’s, we care for some of the country’s most critically ill patients, and we understand safe, quality care for every patient is the most important responsibility of each staff member and employee here,” said Texas Children’s Chief Safety Officer Dr. Joan Shook. “Ensuring our staff and employees are equipped with the knowledge and tools to take preventive action are key to keeping our patients safe.”

Through our organization-wide error prevention training program implemented in 2014, employees and staff are now more comfortable in applying proven safety behaviors in their everyday work to ensure error prevention alertness and personal accountability are always top of mind. These safety behaviors include effectively communicating concerns requiring action, supporting a questioning attitude and using three-way communication to achieve greater clarity so that everyone speaks a common language in the delivery of patient care.

To propel error prevention training to the next level, Texas Children’s launched the Safety Coach Program which consists of clinical and nonclinical frontline staff and providers who are trained to observe employee interactions and provide feedback to reinforce safety behaviors and skills taught in error prevention training.

“Since the program’s launch in February of last year, we’ve had 16 classes and trained 334 coaches throughout the organization,” said Texas Children’s Patient Safety Specialist Tiffany Wrenn. “Our program has contributed to people’s’ increased comfort level in speaking up when there is a concern resulting in a 5.2 percent significant improvement in communication openness as reported in our latest AHRQ Hospital Patient Safety Culture Survey.”

The SPS also recognized Texas Children’s systemwide efforts in reducing hospital acquired conditions by reassessing current practices to identify areas of improvement.

When patients in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) developed a hospital acquired pressure ulcer (HAPU) due to skin breakdown from the electrodes affixed to their scalp and forehead during an electroencephalography (EEG) study, Texas Children’s Clinical Specialist Joellan Mullen and her EMU colleagues collaborated to develop techniques to enhance skin care management and HAPU prevention, which were later published in the 2014 Journal of Pediatric Nursing.

These best practices included using a less abrasive solution to remove oils from the skin before electrodes were placed on the forehead, wrapping a breathable fishnet dressing around the electrodes to prevent moisture and pressure buildup on the scalp and implementing wireless technology to allow greater mobility for EMU patients.

“Before revising our quality improvement practices for HAPU prevention, 10 percent of our EMU patients developed a HAPU, averaging three or four occurrences per month,” Mullen said. “Today, we have seen a reduction in HAPUs within our unit after implementing these changes.” The creation of the Skin Champions Program also helped staff reduce the number of pressure ulcers in the EMU and in high acuity areas of the hospital like the intensive care and cardiovascular units.

Other units experienced their share of collaborative successes. To reduce the occurrence of central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) in the neonatal intensive care unit, clinical specialist teams collaborated with infection control partners to review current policies and practices against national standards which led to the creation of a massive educational initiative for nurses. More than 2,000 nurses across the organization were trained on several key skills in central line care.

“We went through hand hygiene, cap changes, dressing changes, just accessing the central line, since we are doing all of that differently than we used to,” said Nicole Sheets, a nurse in the Pulmonary Adolescent Unit. “No matter where you are in the hospital, the standard of care is now the same across the entire organization.”

To learn more about Solutions for Patient Safety, click here. To read more about our patient safety achievements, click here.