July 20, 2022

The excitement for the brighter tomorrow we’re building together at Texas Children’s has only continued to build this summer, sparking even more displays of gratitude for the hard work and commitment that our One Amazing Team brings to the organization every day.

To thank their team members for showing resilience and perseverance, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center leaders Dr. Susan Blaney, Jennifer Sanders and Julio Allo recently hosted a carnival-themed and socially distanced Tomorrow, Together celebration. The festive event came complete with snacks, caricature drawings and an assortment of games that had team members bowling and bouncing with glee.

Scroll through the gallery to check out the Cancer and Hematology Center summer carnival, and to see how other teams and departments have celebrated Texas Children’s Tomorrow, Together.

A big, bold investment in our people

Texas Children’s embarked on our journey into Tomorrow, Together in May 2021. The initiative is a multimillion-dollar investment in our people and your careers with our organization – designed for and by our team members to ensure you can feel valued, included and celebrated.

After launching with a 2% pay increase and additional week of PTO for all team members, the journey has continued with even more bold action to act on your needs, including:

  • Launching the 1-2-3 Retention Program to reward team members for their loyalty and dedication. The first two bonus payments were made in September 2021 and March 2022, and a third payment is scheduled for September 2022.
  • Increasing awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in our day-to-day practice and recommitting to building an inclusive leadership team, with 98% of leaders having completed unconscious bias awareness training.
  • Completing ongoing market reviews and adjustments for all team members.
  • Hosting a series of celebrations across the organization, including popcorn parties system-wide and gatherings at the team and department level.

For more on Texas Children’s Tomorrow, Together, visit ourtomorrowtogether.org.

July 13, 2022

Texas Children’s Department of Surgery recently acquired the Anatomage Table, a revolutionary technology that makes it possible to virtually visualize, interact with, and dissect human anatomy in 3D.

About the size of an operating table, this advanced anatomy and physiology educational tool will provide Texas Children’s team members with an in-depth look into human anatomical structures in much the same way a physical human body would. The cadavers featured in the Anatomage Table were modeled after the Visible Human Project (VHP) and the Visible Korean Human Project (VKH), a program dedicated to capturing and cataloguing detailed photographs of whole and sectioned parts of young, well-preserved human bodies for use in virtual teaching applications.

What allows the Anatomage Table to truly stand out from other imaging and virtual application systems currently on the market is its innovative radiology software and clinical content. Currently the Anatomage Table is the world’s only “fully segmented real human 3D anatomy system…allowing for exploration and learning of human anatomy beyond what any cadaver could offer.” This virtual tool diminishes the need for traditional cadavers and all that comes with them such as chemicals, unpleasant smells, facility costs and regulations.

The table has already been adopted by hundreds of the world’s leading medical schools and institutions, and we’re excited to bring this state-of-the-art technology to our One Amazing Team.

“This impressive table is truly an innovative and state-of-the-art piece of technology that I am so excited to be incorporating into our didactics and teaching here in the Department of Surgery,” said Surgeon in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier. “Not only will this allow for all providers to gain 24/7 access to anatomy and virtual dissection, the in-depth ability to visualize the anatomy in this way is like nothing we have ever had before.”

How to reserve the Anatomage Table and Terms of Agreement

Anyone at Texas Children’s is welcome to reserve the table for educational purposes after providing the proper information required regarding the educational session and attendants, as well as agreeing to the terms and conditions set for room usage.

For those interested in reserving Texas Children’s Anatomage Table room, go to Microsoft Outlook and select the option “Legacy Tower E.860.02.” After reserving the room in Outlook, you will receive an email with a mandatory form to complete and return. Upon completing the form, your request will then be accepted or denied. Please note: confirmation of your reservation is dependent on the completion and review of your form, and all requests to reserve the room remain tentative until further notice. If you have not received training on how to operate the Anatomage Table, we ask that you meet with a super user in advance of your requested educational session. If you have any additional questions related to reserving the room, please contact Maggie Gonzales at mcgonzal@texaschildrens.org.

To learn more about the table and its many features, we encourage you to watch the video detailing how the table works, and/or watch the TED Talk “On the virtual dissection table“ by Jack Choi, the founder and CEO of Anatomage.

Juanna Brandon shares her experience participating in the design of a new challenge to encourage leader rounding and enhance patient experience. Read More

June 30, 2022

At Texas Children’s we believe that listening to the thoughts and perspectives of our patients, families and our One Amazing Team is the key to building a better Tomorrow, Together. Culture rounds has been instrumental in achieving this milestone.

Executive teams rounded on 32 care areas over the past twelve weeks and listened to over 85 patients and families and more than 480 team members who provided feedback on how to make Texas Children’s an even better place to work and receive care. Culture rounds enabled our executives to build stronger relationships and gain insight into improvement opportunities that are important to our front line.

Here’s what registered nurse Maria Bragado had to say about culture rounds:
“Visibility is important, especially between staff and leadership. Knowing they’re involved is a huge morale boost. Thank you for hearing us out!”

Initial analysis of rounding data led executives to partner with unit leadership and communicate trends including supply and equipment needs and staffing challenges. Executives were equipped with nurse staffing and retention data and behavioral health support hiring data to share with staff during rounds, resulting in enhanced communication and transparency of current efforts and future plans. Additional improvement opportunities that highlight organizational needs are being shared with unit leadership.

Thank you for sharing your stories, your innovative ideas, and partnering to increase engagement and enrich our quality and safety culture here at Texas Children’s. You are valued and your voice matters!

Next steps

Culture rounds will resume in August 2022 and include West and Woodlands community campuses, as well as night shift and ambulatory care areas.

For more information on executive culture rounds contact Kandice Bledsaw via e-mail.

June 1, 2022

The Front Door for Data and Technology (Front Door) has undergone a major transformation to meet users’ growing demand for data and create a more robust data exploration experience. You’re going to want to bookmark the new Front Door, located on Connect – navigation bar – Tools. The new portal was officially launched on May 25 by the Quality Outcomes & Analytics, Clinical Informatics, and Information Services (IS) teams.

The Front Door was formed in 2017 to serve as Texas Children’s portal for requesting data reports, access to existing reports and dashboards, E-changes (Epic optimizations and other clinical technologies), and computer technology (tools, software and help). In an increasingly data-driven world and organization, a greater demand for data and more desire from users to learn about and use self-service tools drove the need to reimagine the Front Door user experience.

“We formed a partnership six months ago and set out to understand users’ data consumption needs and modify Front Door in a way that will help people help themselves when it comes to data research, reports, technology requests and understanding clinical technologies,” said Dr. Carla Giannoni, Chief Medical Information Officer and Professor, Pediatric Otolaryngology.

The Front Door transformation team includes Dr. Giannoni, Toni Powell-Fontenot, Assistant Director of Quality Outcomes & Analytics, and Ashok Kurian, IS Director of Enterprise Systems.

Among their findings, the team learned that many users are seeking self-service education about nearly everything, including available reports, the components of those reports, and Epic features and functionality. Their main goal for the new site was to create a space to serve all informatics needs, where users can easily find guidance, facts and forms. Each page includes user-friendly summaries, how-to guidance and quick links that will take you where you need to go to get your work done. On Front Door you can:

  • access request forms for technology and data reports
  • learn about the data request process, all self-service data tools available to you, and how to create robust data requests based on your unique research and reporting needs
  • get links to a vast array of credible and valuable external education resources
Tips for navigating Front Door

When you enter Front Door you will get a taste for how the rest of the site works. Quick link icons connect you with the most-used tools and information, such as How to Get Your Own Data, the IS Request Center, and E-Change Request Form. FAQs are available for everything the team could think of to help you connect with the data and tools you need including request status, determining the type of request you need, and learning more about Epic clinical and data features. The Epic Video Library covers everything Epic, ranging from how to use Epic features such as SlicerDicer and Reporting Workbench to help with physician efficiencies such as writing notes. The Epic “It’s Possible” series are 60- to 90-second videos addressing how to work efficiently.

Quick links for common items are cross-referenced throughout the site. For example, you can always build your own unique dashboard or report based on your team’s needs, although “Data, Tools and Access” shows you what type of reports, dashboards and data sources are already available, and allows you to filter them by type, self-service access request required, source, and other helpful information. If you are contemplating whether to “build” or “request” a report that reveals several clinical data points, you might want to review “Thinking About Data: Tools and Access” for guidance. Other helpful quick links include HELP for the IS Service Portal and Quality and Safety Home.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience as we worked with Ashok’s team to migrate from the initial Front Door and construct and launch the new site,” said Fontenot. “We are excited about its functionality and potential, and we encourage you to take a spin, dive in and give us feedback.”

The Front Door will evolve as the team learns of more reports and tools that can help leadership and work teams with insight and forecasting, such as Epic Executive Dashboards.

Welcome in! Reach out to Toni Fontenot or Dr. Carla Giannoni if you have any questions about the new Front Door.

From nurse to leader – Amy Poso is one of the many leaders guiding Texas Children’s into our biggest expansion yet in Austin. Read Amy’s full story. Read More

May 18, 2022

President and CEO Mark A. Wallace, Austin-area patients and their families, physicians, executives and construction partners gathered for this important milestone. Click for video.