May 8, 2018

When Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands opened its doors a little more than a year ago, leaders were excited about bringing our expertise closer to the homes of the many patients and families who had been making the trek to the Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center campus for so long. Leaders knew the hospital would fulfill a need in North Houston and beyond, and based on the hospital’s reception during its first year, they were right.

Texas Children’s second stand-alone community hospital exceeded expectations during its first year, admitting more than 2,400 patients and completing 77,000 plus physician visits, more than 42,000 radiologic procedures and close to 31,000 therapy appointments. Surgical Services and the Emergency Center saw some of the highest patient volume completing 6,222 surgeries and special procedures, and 31,852 Emergency Center visits.

“These numbers prove The Woodlands and surrounding communities needed world-class pediatric health care close to home,” said Trent Johnson, Texas Children’s Hospital assistant vice president. “Every time we’ve been in touch with families and patients, they always have positive feedback and say how much having Texas Children’s close to home has changed their lives for the better.”

“Community members and leaders also have been very supportive of the hospital during its first year, offering help whenever and wherever needed, which tells me they are happy we are here,” Johnson said.

Another group that has expressed happiness and support for the new 550,000-square-foot facility is clinicians and staff.

“The team here in The Woodlands is doing a phenomenal job,” said Ketrese White, director of Patient Care Services. “You can still feel their energy and excitement about our new hospital.”

As the demand for care grows in the area, so will Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, White added. An additional 14 inpatient beds will become available at the beginning of next year, and leadership is continuously strategizing on how and where to expand and move forward.

“We are extremely pleased with how things are going in The Woodlands and are proud to be able to better serve our patients and families in the North Houston area and beyond,” said Michelle Riley-Brown, executive vice president. “We also are looking forward to the future, which we believe is very bright.”

Located off of I-45 in The Woodlands near CHI St. Luke’s and Methodist hospitals, Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands serves children and families in The Woodlands, Kingwood, Conroe, Spring, Magnolia, Humble, Huntsville and beyond, and was built on a decade’s worth of relationships Texas Children’s has built in the community through our primary and sub-specialty care at Texas Children’s Pediatrics locations and the Texas Children’s Health Center The Woodlands.

Designed with a “spirit of the woods” theme to incorporate the lush, woodsy landscape that surrounds it, Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands offers an open and inviting setting for patients, families and staff alike.

Just inside the main entrance is a grand staircase that simulates a tree house, giving the area a safe, central location for children and families visiting Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands. As you travel throughout the campus, there are images of leaves on the ceiling, rivers on the floor and trees and 1,700 pieces of art created by children in The Woodlands community on the walls.

Some features of the facility include:

  • more than 20 areas of specialty care
  • 32 acute care beds
  • four operating rooms
  • 12 radiology rooms with two MRIs
  • Emergency Center with 25 patient rooms
  • helipad
  • more than 1,300 free parking spaces
  • 28 critical care rooms (14 NICU and 14 PICU)
  • neurophysiology sleep lab
  • EEG laboratory
  • state-of-the-art infusion center
  • dining area
  • family library
  • chapel
  • playrooms on every floor
  • state-of-the-art motion analysis lab

The hospital’s unique design recently earned a Houston Business Journal Landmark Award, which recognizes outstanding real estate projects in the Greater Houston area. Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands was recognized in the medical category.

The inpatient facility is connected to the six-floor, 210,000-square-foot Outpatient Building, which opened in October 2016 and houses more than 20 areas of specialized care including Cardiology, Sports Medicine, Neurology and Hematology/Oncology.

The Outpatient Building is a convenient, kid-friendly environment for families seeking the best pediatric care for their children. A state-of-the-art sports physical therapy gym is on the first floor, check-in and check-out stations resembling a child’s club house are at the entrance of each clinic, and spacious exam rooms and provider work stations line many of the building’s halls.

For more information about Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, click here.

On Tuesday, May 22, Legacy Tower at Texas Children’s Hospital officially will open its doors to care for our most critically ill patients and their families. But before that day arrives, a lot of preparation and training is underway to get ready for opening day which is less than two weeks away.

Last month, multidisciplinary teams successfully completed a series of simulated patient care scenarios inside the Legacy Tower’s state-of-the-art pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), Progressive Care Unit (PCU) and OR/MRI suite to test the workflow processes in the new patient care spaces and address any potential safety concerns before the new building opens.

“For the PICU, we really focused on creating a virtual unit,” said Dr. Cara Doughty, medical director at Texas Children’s Simulation Center. “We wanted the team to participate in all of the routine work flows as well as participate in crisis scenarios and patient decompensations and codes that might happen in a PICU setting.”

In addition to clinical staff, patient families from Texas Children’s Family Advisory Committee participated in the PICU simulations and provided their perspective on how much this space is going to change the way that care is provided to children and families at Legacy Tower.

A few weeks after the PICU and PCU simulations, patient care scenarios were conducted in the operating room and MRI suite of Legacy Tower to address any potential latent safety threats and concerns before the new tower opens its doors to patients and their families.

“Our focus is not as much on design now, it’s really around those processes,” said Maria Happe, clinical senior project manager of Texas Children’s PICU Services. “We want to ensure our processes are correct, and that we ensure our training matches what we want to do and how we want to operate in this new space.”

Once the first phase of Legacy Tower opens on May 22, the tower will house new operating rooms with one intraoperative MRI, as well as a new PICU which will span four floors and open with six ORs and 84 ICU beds, including dedicated surgical, neuro and transitional ICU beds.

When phase two of the Legacy Tower opens in fall 2018, the tower will be the new home of Texas Children’s Heart Center® – ranked No. 1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in cardiology and heart surgery. The Heart Center will have an outpatient clinic, four catheterization labs with one intraprocedural MRI, cardiovascular intensive care unit, four cardiovascular ORs and cardiology acute care beds. The tower also will have a helistop, allowing for even greater access to Texas Children’s most critically ill patients.

The Legacy Tower project would not have been possible without tremendous collaboration from teams and departments across the organization. Click here to view the Legacy Tower Activation Teams and Departments that played an integral role in the design, construction and activation of Legacy Tower.

Employees and staff can see more of Legacy Tower on Connect throughout the month. Texas Children’s Corporate Communications Team will feature a series of stories and videos on Connect promoting Legacy Tower and sharing how we are preparing for this historic move.

From our three hospital campuses to our health centers, urgent care and pediatric practices, Texas Children’s continues to focus its efforts on enhancing patient access. Since implementing solutions for the first two waves of specialties over the last two months, patient families are noticing a positive difference.

For Christina Williams, being able to schedule her 13-year-old son’s clinical appointment 21 days sooner than the originally scheduled appointment has been nothing but a game changer for her.

“I scheduled my son for an appointment in April to see an allergist at Texas Children’s Health Center in Sugar Land,” Williams said. “When I logged on to MyChart, I received an instant notification about an available opening in the Wallace Tower clinic and I quickly accepted it. This process is quick, easy and convenient, and it’s great knowing that I can be notified on MyChart as soon as an opening becomes available.”

First launched on March 19 with two subspecialties – Allergy and Immunology, and Baylor College of Medicine OB/GYN – MyChart’s electronic waitlist feature automatically offers patients and their families on the waitlist earlier appointments once their MyChart account has been activated.

Since the new feature went live for these two subspecialties in mid-March, there have been multiple offers accepted to help families get earlier clinical appointments. Below are the results as of April 30:

  • Combined acceptance rate of 8.2 percent for Allergy and Immunology, and Baylor OB/GYN with average day improvement of 56 days
  • Acceptance rate of 7.4 percent for Allergy and Immunology with average day improvement of 54 days
  • Acceptance rate of 10.7 percent for Baylor OB/GYN with average day improvement of 64 days.

The remaining Wave 1 specialties along with Wave 2 will go live with this new feature on May 21. These subspecialties are Orthopedics, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Neurology, Adolescent/Sports Medicine, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Pediatric Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthodontics, Plastic Surgery, Urology and Cardiology.

MyChart Instant Activation

While the nation was glued to the NCAA’s March Madness college basketball tournament, Texas Children’s remained focused on scoring patient access points during MyChart Madness.

On March 19, clinic staff at Mark Wallace Tower participated in a collaborative, 5-week MyChart Madness competition to increase MyChart activation rates across the hospital system, resulting in more patients and their families taking advantage of the benefits of this online patient portal.

MyChart Instant Activation essentially pushes a text or email notification to patient families that allows them to sign up for a MyChart account via phone instead of having to use a computer to sign up.

“Out of the 32 participating clinics at Wallace Tower, a total of 1,096 same-day activations were generated as a result of MyChart Madness,” said Rachel Norman Brock, manager of Ambulatory Clinics at Texas Children’s. “The Urology team was the winner of the MyChart Madness competition with 118 same-day activations.”

During the first week of instant activation across the Texas Children’s hospital system, there were 3,492 same-day activations, almost half of which resulted from instant activation. To date, Texas Children’s has a total of 6,974 same-day activations thanks to our collaborative team efforts to enhance patient access.

Other strategies to improve patient access

Championed by administrative and physician leaders from medical, surgical, and women’s service lines, the Improved Capacity & Improved Utilization workgroup has been focused on ensuring that providers have appointments in their schedules for our patients when it is most convenient for them to be seen.

By first evaluating appointment templates and aligning provider schedules to a standard four-hour clinic session definition to ensure patients receive the service and availability they need, the organization was able to add over 36,000 new patient appointments annually into the system through Waves 1, 2 and 3 of the project. The team looks forward to additional slots as Wave 4 goes live on June 1.

“To date, the workgroup has partnered with 28 specialties and over 600+ providers to create increased appointment availability, particularly for new patients that are currently facing long waits to be seen in our clinics,” said Grace Karon, project manager for Ambulatory Services at Texas Children’s. “With these new appointment slots, the team is proud to be helping our patients access the care that they need.”

May 1, 2018

The final countdown to the Phase One opening of Texas Children’s Legacy Tower has begun. In less than three weeks, Legacy Tower at Texas Children’s Medical Center campus will officially open its doors to care for our most critically ill patients and their families.

But before the new tower opens on Tuesday, May 22, Texas Children’s will host an Open House on Thursday, May 10, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. to give our employees and staff a chance to see parts of the tower for themselves. Self-guided tours will be hosted on floors 8 and 12 of Legacy Tower.

Employees and staff can see more of Legacy Tower on Connect throughout the month. Texas Children’s Corporate Communications Team will feature a series of stories and videos on Connect promoting Legacy Tower and sharing how we are preparing for this historic move.

Hand hygiene is key in keeping our kids healthy and on the road to a speedy recovery here at Texas Children’s. That’s why on Saturday, May 5 – World Hand Hygiene Day – leaders are asking providers to take a close look at whether they are cleaning their hands frequently and properly.

“Practicing hand hygiene is a simple yet effective way to prevent infections,” said Director of Quality and Safety Elaine Whaley. “Cleaning your hands can prevent the spread of germs, including those that are resistant to antibiotics and are becoming difficult, if not impossible, to treat.”

On average, health care providers across the nation clean their hands less than half of the times they should, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As a result, about one in 25 hospital patients, on any given day, has at least one health care-associated infection.

At Texas Children’s, we strive for a hand-hygiene compliance rate of 95 percent or higher. So far this fiscal year, we have an average compliance rate of 88 percent. Compliance is measured by “secret” shoppers to determine how many opportunities to perform hand hygiene are met and how many opportunities are missed.

“Practicing good hand hygiene is the right thing to do for our patients and their families,” said Dr. Judith Campbell with Infectious Disease. “It reduces the transmission of organisms and infections while they are receiving our care.”

Learn more about how and when to properly wash your hands by clicking on the infographic above, and stay tuned for more information about competitions and additional educational opportunities for front line clinical workers for whom this information is so important.

April 24, 2018

Texas Children’s emergency operations plan was put to the test during a comprehensive active shooter exercise on April 16. This was the first time an emergency exercise of this scale and scope with external and internal participants was completed at Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus. Two similar exercises were previously conducted at the Woodlands and West campuses in 2017.

The exercise included over 200 Texas Children’s staff and employees and 30 members of local law enforcement including, the University of Texas Police Department, Harris County SWAT Team, and the state department diplomatic security service. There were also multiple external observers and evaluators onsite. Having multiple agencies involved in simulating an active shooter incident creates an environment that is as realistic as possible and allows law enforcement agencies to practice their skills in a new environment. A secondary benefit is having the opportunity to train in our hospital footprint which would be valuable in the event of a real active shooter incident.

After the participants arrived, they were put through a safety briefing with Texas Children’s Hospital Emergency Management, followed by further orientation with The University of Texas Police Department, and “Run, Hide, Fight” Training provided by Texas Children’s Security. During these exercises blank ammunition was used to simulate gunfire increasing realism while maintaining safety.

The exercise was held on the twelfth floor of the Legacy Tower, a new extension of Texas Children’s Hospital that officially opens Tuesday, May 22. Legacy Tower was the perfect place to host this exercise since it is vacant, so patient care would not be disturbed, and due to its convenient location on Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus.

The exercise involved two scenarios both presented within each of the five sessions. The first scenario was a disgruntled parent seeking retribution against the staff following the recent death of his child. The enraged father came into the hospital looking for a particular physician, became agitated, pulled out a weapon, and then started shooting. Once the father started shooting, people began to scramble, and at that point, all the staff were expected to execute the “Run-Hide-Fight” training that was provided. The shooter eventually isolated himself then took his own life.

After law enforcement entered the scene they began searching the area, located the shooter, secured the floor and evacuated all of the participants to a safe area. At that point the first evolution of the exercise ended and all the participants were gathered for a quick debriefing to discuss what happened before being repositioned for the next evolution of the exercise with participants changing roles.

“So that first time kind of startles them,” Aaron Freedkin, manager of Emergency Management, said. “Then they really settle into the “Run-Hide-Fight” training.”

The second scenario was a domestic dispute involving a person looking for his ex-wife, accusing her of taking custody of their kids and seeking retribution. While the scenes played out looked and sounded real, fortunately, this was only an exercise. However, these realistic situations are needed to evoke the intensity that would arise in the event of a real active shooter incident.

According to Texas Children’s Hospital Emergency Management, the first time they ran through the drill participants had the tendency to hesitate rather than react. However, the second time they were more comfortable and as a result, their performance improved. After the second evolution of the exercise, Texas Children’s Hospital Emergency Management conducted a follow-up discussion and debriefing in a process to capture lessons learned from the exercise.

“We are always seeking to improve our processes and our plans, so we do what’s called an after action debriefing or a hot wash,” Freedkin said. “This is where we sit them down and talk about what they went through and ask them what went well and if there are any opportunities for improvement.”

During the process, Everbridge, our emergency notification system, was tested by sending messages stating that there is an active shooter, the specific floor, and everyone is told to “run-hide-fight.”

“Overall, it was a very successful exercise. We really want people to get that visceral reaction,” Freedkin said. “It’s one thing to show people a video or to give them a PowerPoint and show them how to respond during an active shooter event. It’s very different to stick them on a floor and then have somebody shooting off a weapon. So, this really gets your adrenaline going and gives them more of a realistic feel for what a real event would be like.”

We are better prepared today than we were before, and the lessons learned from this exercise will drive improvements to our planning and response for many months to come.

Just 12 short months ago, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative at Texas Children’s Hospital, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, and leaders in Botswana, Uganda and Malawi, announced a $100 million initiative to create an innovative pediatric hematology-oncology treatment network in sub-Saharan Africa.

Called Global HOPE (Hematology-Oncology Pediatric Excellence), the aim of the initiative is to build long-term capacity to treat and dramatically improve the prognosis of children with cancer and blood disorders in sub-Saharan Africa where the overwhelming majority of pediatric cancer and hematology patients do not survive. The mortality rate is estimated to be as high as 90 percent, in large part due to an inadequate health care infrastructure and a significant lack of expert physicians and other health care workers trained to treat children with cancer.

Global HOPE already is making great strides to change these outcomes and the reasons behind them. Since its creation in February 2017, more than 1,000 patients have been treated, 369 health care professionals have been trained, eight physician fellows have enrolled in the first Pediatric Hematology Oncology Fellowship Program in East Africa and seven cancer awareness and survivor events in Botswana, Uganda and Malawi have been organized.

“We’re very excited by the progress in a relatively short amount of time,” said Dr. David Poplack, director of Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers. “Capacity building takes time. This may mean we exceed our original expectations.”

Initially, Global HOPE leaders envisioned treating 5,000 patients in the first five years, but the expectation assumed the numbers would ramp up as the program did. A similar situation occurred in 2003 after the largest pediatric HIV treatment network in the world was created by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative and the Governments of Botswana, Uganda and Malawi. The network has leveraged existing experience, infrastructure, and public/private partnerships to train 52,000 health care professionals and provide care for nearly 300,000 children with HIV and their families in sub-Saharan Africa, lowering the mortality rate for these children to 1.2 percent.

“The success we’ve had in radically changing the course of pediatric HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa is due in large part to the tremendous support provided by the country governments, health care providers on the ground and donors who have made our work possible,” said Dr. Mark W. Kline, president and founder of BIPAI, physician-in-chief of Texas Children’s Hospital and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. “We are very pleased by the progress Global HOPE already has made in building a self-sustaining infrastructure that changes the tide of these childhood diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Global HOPE is building on the work Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers and its partners have been providing children with cancer and blood disorders in Africa for a decade. Through the partnership, Global HOPE is active in three countries and has 51 faculty and staff working in Texas Children’s global sites.

These sites, called Centers of Excellence, are being expanded in Botswana, Malawi and Uganda, and aim to serve as regional hubs for pediatric hematology/oncology programs. Progress also is being made on implementing standard treatment protocols and clinical practice guidelines to ensure quality pediatric hematology/oncology care and services are provided across the cancer care continuum, and positively impact overall pediatric health services.

To develop local leaders in Africa in the pediatric hematology/oncology field, Global HOPE has established the first Hematology/Oncology Fellowship in East Africa in Uganda. This two-year fellowship is accredited by the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council and incorporates online training, live lectures, rotations from sub-specialists to provide training on-site, and professional development opportunities, including attending scientific conferences and participating in leadership seminars.

“This fellowship is one of the most important things we are doing in Africa,” Poplack said. “It is the formal educational program that enables us to build medical capacity to diagnose and treat pediatric blood disorders and cancer.”

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation is committing $50 million over five years to fund the training of health care providers as well as clinical infrastructure and operations. Global HOPE will raise an additional $50 million for the initiative.

Read these blogs to learn more about Global HOPE:

Global HOPE supports parent-led advocacy group in Uganda

How a blueprint for treating HIV/AIDS is helping address childhood cancer in Africa

All kids with cancer deserve a fighting chance