March 13, 2018

On March 7, The Walt Disney Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger announced an innovative plan that will dedicate more than $100 million to bring comfort to children and their families in hospitals across the globe, beginning right here at Texas Children’s.

During a special media event held in the lobby of Texas Children’s Legacy Tower, Iger and Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace shared this exciting announcement and partnership with employees and several members of the hospital’s executive leadership team.

This patient-focused initiative will roll out over five years, expanding the Company’s rich legacy of supporting children’s hospitals, which dates back to Walt Disney.

“Disney’s timeless stories have touched hearts and lifted spirits for generations, and we believe they can bring comfort to children and families going through a very difficult time,” Iger said. “Using the powerful combination of our beloved characters and legendary creativity, we’re planning to transform the patient experience in children’s hospitals around the world – creating a personalized and engaging atmosphere that will inspire young patients and ease the stress of a hospital stay.”

Leveraging its renowned “Imagineers” – the global experts in theme park and family entertainment design – the company plans to introduce a rich array of distinctly “Disney” elements into children’s hospitals. Concepts for these elements include:

  • A new RFID-based system allowing patients to customize their hospital visit by choosing their favorite Disney stories and characters, which will surround them during their stay. The system will unlock special elements to further personalize and enhance the experience, such as “enchanted” artwork that comes alive.
  •  Themed treatment and patient rooms featuring interactive murals of Disney stories, bed linens and gowns featuring each child’s favorite characters, and personalized in-room entertainment. Additionally, well stocked mobile “play carts” will include Disney-themed games and activities to give families something to do together to help alleviate stress and boredom.
  •  Disney first-run movies and television shows, available in-room and in themed pop up movie theaters in the hospital, and other Disney entertainment options.
  •  Disney customer-experience training for doctors, nurses and staff. The renowned Disney Institute, a part of The Walt Disney Company that provides professional development training focused on leadership, employee engagement and high-quality service, will create a customized program for health care professionals designed to foster a less stressful, patient and family-centric hospital experience.

View a photo gallery below.

“We are honored to be the inaugural hospital to collaborate with Disney on this exciting patient-focused initiative,” Wallace said. “Patient care is at the center of our mission, and in addition to providing the highest-quality medical care to children, we strive to make the hospital experience as enjoyable and stress-free as possible for every patient and their family. We are looking forward to working with Disney to enhance our efforts in this area.”

Disney is working with a panel of medical experts, including doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, parents and child life professionals from around the world to advise on the best ways Disney can help hospitals – like Texas Children’s – create a more personalized and comforting experience for patients and families.

Following this big announcement, Wallace presented Iger with a colorful illustration of the first Texas Children’s Hospital building dating back to 1952 which was commissioned by Walt Disney himself. This gift symbolized the hospital’s continued collaboration with Disney.

Wallace also gave Iger a tour of Texas Children’s Legacy Tower and patients and their families enjoyed a Disney character party in The Zone featuring Mickey Mouse, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and Black Panther.

Less than two months after being separated from her sister Hope in a seven-hour surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital, Anna Grace Richards got to go home.

Anna was discharged from Texas Children’s on March 2 after spending 428 days in the hospital. Hope is expected to be able to go home in the near future. The formerly conjoined identical twin girls were successfully separated at Texas Children’s Hospital on January 13. A multidisciplinary team of nearly 75 surgeons, anesthesiologists, cardiologists and nurses from eight specialties performed the seven-hour procedure.

The girls were born on December 29, 2016, at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, weighing a combined 9 lbs. 12 oz. Delivered via Cesarean-section at 35 weeks and five days gestation, Anna and Hope were conjoined at their chest and abdomen, through the length of their torso and shared the chest wall, pericardial sac (the lining of the heart), diaphragm and liver. In addition, they had a large blood vessel connecting their hearts. They were welcomed by their parents, Jill and Michael, and older brothers Collin and Seth.

The Richards family, from North Texas, learned Jill was carrying conjoined twins during a routine ultrasound. The family was then referred to Texas Children’s Fetal Center, where they underwent extensive prenatal imaging, multidisciplinary consultation and development of plans to achieve a safe delivery and postnatal care. They temporarily relocated to Houston in order to deliver at Texas Children’s and be close to the girls during their hospital stay. For the past year, Anna and Hope have been cared for by a team of specialists in the level IV and level II neonatal intensive care units (NICU).

The Richards family will remain in Houston until Hope is able to go home.

Click here to read a more detailed story, to watch a video and view a photo gallery below about the separation of Anna and Hope.

Recently, Texas Children’s executives and employees welcomed Judy Faulkner, CEO and founder of Epic Systems. Faulkner walked the group through a timeline of successes and innovations that have resulted from Texas Children’s 10-year partnership with Epic.

“We meet with our Epic partners on a very frequent basis,” said Julie McGuire, Director of Texas Children’s Enterprise Systems. “However, this is the first meeting with Judy onsite since the vendor demos more than 10 years ago, and it was an honor.”

Epic is essentially applications that support Texas Children’s comprehensive electronic health record system. Epic provides Texas Children’s with an integrated suite of clinical and financial applications, including billing, admissions, scheduling, patient charts and information, and order entry. It touches virtually every employee and, more importantly, every patient that passes through our system. Epic software is used in hospitals, homes and even hand-held devices.

Faulkner’s visit began with a brief overview of Texas Children’s history, presented by Executive Vice President Michelle Riley-Brown, who detailed the expansion of our global footprint and technology development over the years.

“Our goal is not to chase the quantity,” Riley-Brown said. “We chase the quality.”

Faulkner shared Epic’s vision, a current snapshot and plans for the future. Although personal development is always key, she emphasized that “it takes a village” when it’s comes to expanding technology as a whole.

“Keep in touch with other Epic users,” Faulkner said. “Share with others how you have expanded.”

Faulkner said she was impressed with how Texas Children’s has continued to evolve and respond to changing health care methods to meet the needs of patients.

“Texas Children’s Pediatrics was the first to use Epic strategies within the hospital, and we have been extremely successful thus far,” said Texas Children’s Pediatrics President Kay Tittle. “With the opening of multiple urgent cares and expanding to Austin, we are well on our way.”

During Faulkner’s visit, the Information Services team took her to the hospital’s nucleus – Mission Control.

Mission Control is equipped with state-of-the-art technology in a large, high-tech space on the third floor of Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. The suite houses representatives from Security, Facilities, Room Management, Transport Services and Critical Care.

When a patient is transferred to or from Texas Children’s Hospital, several wheels are set into motion at Mission Control to make the process run smoothly for our patients and their families. During the first month Mission Control was launched last year, the Transport Team reduced their time from dispatch to pick up by 20 minutes. When Faulkner asked about technology to improve remote patient monitoring in Mission Control, the team assured her it is on the horizon.

“We’re definitely on the path to advancing the way we monitor patients,” said Myra Davis, Senior Vice President of Information Services. “Ultimately, our plan is that Mission Control will have remote monitoring so we always have that extra set of trained eyes on our most critical patients”

Also on the horizon is an Epic upgrade, currently scheduled for summer 2019. Both Texas Children’s and Epic Systems continue to be focused on elevating how we use Epic technology, implementing new modules, maintaining a concise alignment with Epic guidelines, and ensuring we meet the system’s strategic priorities of access and care coordination.

“It’s been an incredible 10 years with Epic, and I know as we continue to grow as an organization, the need to become even better as we get bigger will be even more critical,” Davis said. “I’m excited about seeing how our efforts will flourish as a result of this partnership.”

March 6, 2018

As one of the top pediatric hospitals in the nation, many patients come to Texas Children’s to access the high quality care and services that our hospital provides to children and women. But often times, trying to schedule an appointment to get into our system can be frustrating for patients and their families.

That’s why Texas Children’s is hitting this challenge head on. Several months ago, the Texas Children’s Access and Patient Scheduling Task Force conducted a baseline assessment of the hospital’s current landscape which revealed several opportunities for the organization to improve access. The Task Force proposed more than 30 recommendations and prioritized which ones would be implemented first.

The first wave of specialties went live on March 1, aligning provider schedules to a standard four-hour clinic session definition to ensure patients receive the service and availability they need. Six specialties impacted during the first wave of operational improvements include: Allergy & Immunology, Rheumatology, Nephrology, Neurology, Orthopedics and Baylor College of Medicine’s Obstetrics/Gynecology. There will be three more waves launching from April to June to standardize clinic sessions for all of the specialties at the hospital.

“After we evaluated appointment templates for over 200 providers, we found additional slots where physicians could see patients for a duration of four hours,” said Texas Children’s Assistant Vice President Carrie Rys. “By making that recommended change, we were able to add about over 10,000 new patient appointments annually into the system.”

Last year, 20 percent of appointment slots were unfilled due to restrictive scheduling practices and last minute cancellations. The committee also identified more than 60 different referral processes throughout the system, which made it extremely cumbersome for patients and families to access our care.

With tremendous support from Texas Children’s leadership, the committee identified additional system wide recommendations that will be implemented in waves over the next several months including:

  • 72-hour flip: If an appointment slot for a specific patient type is not filled 72 hours out, the slot will open automatically to a broader group of patients to maintain flexibility and open schedules
  • Fast Pass: This new MyChart feature creates an electronic waitlist and automatically offers up cancelled appointments to patients desiring a sooner appointment.
  • Online scheduling: Since most families overwhelmingly prefer online scheduling, referral and scheduling processes will be streamlined and standardized across the system to enable online scheduling for new and existing patients across all specialties beginning later this year.
  • Future idea development: The committee is vetting additional recommendations including how to optimize space utilization, pursue a formalized escalation process and leverage telemedicine.

“Our objective is to lay a solid foundation and layer on additional patient access solutions once we have a sturdy infrastructure to build from,” said Texas Children’s Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Larry Hollier and co-chair of the Access Executive Steering Committee. “Because we really care about our families, we have to pay attention to their needs and do more to help them out. We have to keep the doors open to our patients.”

On March 1, close to 340 golfers played colorfully and raised more than $500,000 at the 20th annual Bad Pants Open golf tournament at the Clubs of Kingwood, benefitting Texas Children’s Newborn Center.

Each year, organizers of the golf tournament set out to raise hundreds of thousands to support the hospital’s level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that cares for the smallest and sickest babies. To celebrate Bad Pants’ 20th anniversary, the tournament also honored Texas Children’s NICU patient families from the last 20 years, many of whom attended the annual event.

“It was uplifting to see these children, now much older doing so well after going through a tough NICU course, and it was moving to see the pride and joy on the faces of the families of these children,” said Texas Children’s Chief of Neonatology Dr. Gautham Suresh. “It reminded me of what a privilege it is to serve as a physician and have the opportunity to take care of NICU patients in such a wonderful place as Texas Children’s Hospital.”

The event featured a post-play awards ceremony and dinner where players were awarded plates painted by Texas Children’s patients for both the best golf scores and baddest pants. Allyson Johnson, a NICU nurse at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, was presented with the Nurse of the Year award, a special recognition awarded at each tournament. While it is an honor to receive this award, she says seeing former patients thriving and happy is a reflection of the great work we do.

“It made me feel proud to know and hear from several families there how much we make a difference in their time spent in the NICU,” Johnson said. “It really warms my heart to see good outcomes from the attentive care we proudly provide in the Newborn Center at Texas Children’s.”

Proceeds from The Bad Pants Open support continued innovation and excellence in the research, treatment and care of critically ill and premature infants at Texas Children’s Newborn Center. Over the past 20 years, The Bad Pants Open has provided nearly $6.5 million in support of our Newborn Center – the nation’s largest NICU and one of only two Level IV NICUs in the greater Houston area. Their support has helped the Newborn Center provide programs and services to our NICU families including Family Support Groups, NICU Reunion, Parking for Patients Program as well as the work being carried out through Neonatal Family Advisory Committee.

“The Newborn Center is very fortunate to have the Bad Pants Open Committee raising money for the patients we care for and their families, as well as for the nurses and for medical research,” Suresh said. “I think of the committee as the “Bad Pants-Good Deeds” Committee and I am immensely grateful for their volunteer efforts.”

The next Bad Pants Open golf tournament is scheduled for October 11. More information is available at www.badpantsopen.com

Texas Children’s Kangaroo Crew recently received the Texas Department of State Health Services Texas Emergency Medical Services Air Medical Service Award. The award is given annually to an air medical service team in Texas that demonstrates the highest standards in providing patient care and leads the way in innovation and commitment to advancing that care every day.

The Kangaroo Crew demonstrated this resilient commitment at their annual safety training at Hobby Airport. Team members participated in simulated emergencies that may occur in the field.

“We don’t like to talk about it, but it’s something we have to train for and discuss in case of an emergency,” said Kangaroo Crew Education Coordinator Jennifer Bee.

Texas Children’s created the Kangaroo Crew over 30 years ago to transport critically ill babies and children to Texas Children’s Hospital from all over the nation and Central America for high level care. The team’s annual safety training focuses on extensive preparation activities that allow them to agilely care for patients on and off of the ground. The Kangaroo Crew partners with Hobby Airport, Seven Bar Aviation, and Wilson Air to stage the event, which highlights Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, and tactics for responding during aircraft and ambulance transports.

Texas Children’s Mission Control plays a major role in the Kangaroo Crew’s swift transportation process. The initial call for a transport comes through Mission Control to the dispatchers. A charge nurse and physician help assess the need, and a transport team is dispatched immediately. Prior to the creation of Mission Control last year, the transport process averaged about 50-60 minutes.

“Now that Mission Control is part of that process, we’ve decreased our transport time by almost 50 percent,” Bee said. “We’re down to like less than 30 minutes, which is a significant change for our team. We’re getting out the door to the patients much faster.”

Efficiency is an important part of the process when dealing with critically ill patients. However, it is also imperative to perform each step precisely to avoid mistakes. Hence, the annual training.

“You want to stay calm and collected so that way you’re not tripping over stuff,” said Seven Bar Aviation Captain Kyle Neill. “Being more methodical about it versus just trying to get out as soon as possible, is a better practice. That way you can get the patient, unhook their lines and get out the door safely.”

Despite the immense pressure of the job, the goal of the intense training is to educate and strengthen the team. Bee said she makes sure the training is also a bonding experience.

“I try to throw a team building activity in there, which helps because we are constantly on the go when we are here at the hospital,” she said. “It’s kind of a small family. Everybody understands the importance of everyone’s role.”

The Kangaroo Crew employs nearly a hundred employees with a wide range of backgrounds.

“It is imperative that we train as a multi-disciplinary team – with pilots, transport team members and simulated patients – for high-risk-low-frequency events and prepare for every situation,” said Dr. Jeanine Graf, Kangaroo Crew Medical Director. “I am proud to be associated with a consistently high performing team that prioritizes safety in our simulation training.”

Texas Children’s Kangaroo Crew is the only pediatric intensive care transport service in the region that offers such a high level of expertise on each transport.

“As we look forward to the opening of Legacy Tower, we will be ready to provide access to all of our critically ill patients who call on us for service,” Graf said.

Click here or more information about the Kangaroo Crew.

February 27, 2018

On February 23, Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre hosted her fourth virtual town hall at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women Conference Center. Approximately 300 attendees participated in the live audience and close to 300 more registrants watched the Nursing town hall via live stream, remote gathering locations, unit-based huddles or via the on-demand video recording of the event.

Nursing partnered with the Corporate Communications team to organize this event and engage our team of more than 3,000 nurses that comprise Texas Children’s largest employee population.

The town hall included a spotlight on FY17 nursing accomplishments, system updates and a review of last month’s successful Magnet® site visit, a crucial step in the hospital’s journey toward Magnet® re-designation. Magnet® designation is considered the gold standard for nursing excellence.

Andre, along with Texas Children’s Assistant Vice President of Nursing Gail Parazynski and Nursing Director Shannon Holland, delivered insightful presentations on the remarkable progress that has been made on various strategic projects that directly correlates to several of our nursing priorities:

  • Strategic Priorities: Success related to retention (our FY17 goal of turnover rate ≤ 10 percent was met), patient satisfaction and RN engagement were reviewed – all of which were reflected in our successful Magnet site visit.
  • Magnet re-designation: One appraiser described the site visit as “life changing” while another commented that “two words for the visit were love and joy.” Among other things, our nursing team was recognized for leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration and steadfast focus on family-centered care.
  • System Updates: The town hall included timely updates on Legacy Tower – which is set to open on May 22 – and Mission Control, our new state-of-the-art communications hub to ensure the safe and efficient transfer of patients to our hospital.

The town hall concluded with a Q and A session. Participants in our live audience as well as nurses in our remote locations could submit their questions during the town hall thanks to our use of virtual technology.

For those of you who were unable to attend the Nursing town hall event last week, click here to view it on-demand at your convenience.