January 23, 2018

Texas Children’s Hospital is proud to announce the opening of its ninth Texas Children’s Urgent Care clinic. Located at 12620 Woodforest Blvd., Suite 160, Texas Children’s Urgent Care East offers high-quality, efficient and affordable pediatric care at a convenient location.

Texas Children’s Urgent Care East is open Monday through Friday, 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. The clinic is staffed by board certified pediatricians who diagnose and treat a wide variety of ailments, illnesses and conditions, including: asthma, strep throat, fever, minor burns, influenza, ear infections, allergic reactions and more. Procedures provided include: antibiotic injections, breathing treatments, fracture care and splinting, IV (intravenous) fluids, lab services, laceration repair and X-rays onsite.

Oftentimes, families turn to an emergency center after hours, on weekends or perhaps even during the day, when a significant event occurs with their child. Though the emergency center is the right place for some incidents or ailments, the majority of the time minor illnesses can and should be treated at a pediatric urgent care facility.

Texas Children’s Urgent Care accepts major insurance plans and has self-pay rates, which are less than emergency center charges, and there are no hospital fees. A complete list of insurance plans is available on the website. Texas Children’s Urgent Care specializes in after-hours care, but does not replace the need for children to have a general pediatrician. Routine physical exams and vaccinations are services that should be obtained from a general pediatrician, and these services are not available at Texas Children’s Urgent Care.

Texas Children’s Urgent Care has eight additional convenient locations:

  • Cinco Ranch, 9727 Spring Green Blvd., Suite 900 Katy, TX 77494, 281-789-6300
  • Memorial, 12850 Memorial Drive, Suite 210 Houston, TX 77024, 832-827-4000 Memorial
  • The Woodlands, 4775 W. Panther Creek Drive, Suite C300 The Woodlands, TX 77381, 281-417-0870
  • Main Campus, 6621 Fannin, Suite 2240 Houston, TX 77030, 832-824-2000
  • Pearland, 2701 Pearland Parkway, Suite 190, Pearland, TX 77581, 281-485-6400
  • The Vintage, 10420 Louetta Road, Suite 104, Houston, TX 77070, 281-251-0269
  • Fairfield, 28070 Highway 290, Suite 100, Cypress, TX 77433, 281-758-4770
  • The Heights, 2200 Yale Street, Houston, TX, 77008, 713-861-6104

For more information about Texas Children’s Urgent Care, click here.

To prepare for the opening of Texas Children’s Urgent Care Westgate in Austin, Texas Children’s has opened a Welcome Center adjacent to the future urgent care site on the south side of Austin. The Welcome Center is being used for human resources and philanthropy. It also will serve as a means to create brand awareness for Texas Children’s in the Austin community.

The new office, located at 4477 South Lamar Blvd., opened January 8 and is primarily being used to recruit future employees and on-board staff. The space will not be used for clinical services.

“We are very excited to have this new office in Austin,” said Texas Children’s Executive Vice President Michelle Riley-Brown. “It marks our entrance into the fastest growing city in America with a pediatric population of almost a half a million.”

Texas Children’s Urgent Care Westgate is scheduled to open in March and will be modeled after Texas Children’s other urgent care facilities, all of which are located in the Greater Houston area and offer high-quality, efficient and affordable pediatric care at a convenient location.

Open Monday through Friday, 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m., the clinic will be staffed by board certified pediatricians who diagnose and treat a wide variety of ailments, illnesses and conditions, including: asthma, strep throat, fever, minor burns, influenza, ear infections, allergic reactions and more. Procedures to be provided include: antibiotic injections, breathing treatments, fracture care and splinting, IV (intravenous) fluids, lab services, laceration repair and X-rays onsite.

“Oftentimes, families turn to an emergency center after hours, on weekends or perhaps even during the day, when a significant event occurs with their child,” said Kay Tittle, president of Texas Children’s Urgent Care. “Though the emergency center is the right place for some incidents or ailments, the majority of the time minor illnesses can and should be treated at a pediatric urgent care facility.”

Texas Children’s opened its first urgent care facility in 2014 and has since seen tremendous success in getting pediatric patients where they need to be to receive the proper treatment for their illness or injury, decreasing the number of low-acuity cases at Texas Children’s emergency rooms.

In addition to opening Texas Children’s Urgent Care Westgate, Texas Children’s plans to open additional pediatric urgent care clinics, primary care pediatric practices, pediatric specialty care locations and maternal-fetal medicine practices across Austin over the next five years.

“Making sure women and children have access to exceptional health care close to home is why we have hospitals in Katy and The Woodlands and nearly 80 Texas Children’s primary care and urgent care practices, specialty care centers, maternal-fetal medicine clinics and other health care locations throughout Greater Houston,” Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace said. “And that is why we are bringing Texas Children’s to Austin, Texas.”

Click here to read Wallace’s blog post about why Texas Children’s is moving into Austin.

January 17, 2018

Long-time Texas Children’s Board of Trustees member and former board president Michael Linn has been appointed chairman of the board. Linn will be responsible for partnering with Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark Wallace and our executive leadership team to help ensure the board’s directives, policies and resolutions are carried out, and he will champion the organization and advocate its mission to internal and external stakeholders.

“Mike’s years of dedication and leadership to Texas Children’s Hospital have helped us tremendously, and we are excited about his newly appointed role as chairman of the board,” Wallace said. “Mike and his wife, Carol, actively and tirelessly champion our mission, making personal gifts in support of our priorities, serving as incredible advocates for the hospital, building relationships in the community, and encouraging others to give generously. I look forward to partnering with him in this new role.”

Linn was elected to the Texas Children’s Board of Trustees in 2008, and he served as president of the board from 2016-2017. In addition to his board responsibilities, Linn is currently chairing Promise: The Campaign for Texas Children’s Hospital along with his wife. Under the Linns’ leadership, the Promise campaign has raised millions of dollars for Texas Children’s and its growing need to provide dedicated, specialized pediatric health care in Houston and surrounding communities.

“Texas Children’s Hospital holds a special place in our hearts, and we want to continue to help them any way we can,” Linn said. “My son, Matthew, died at the age of 7 after undergoing surgery in Boston from a congenital heart defect, and Carol and I are dedicated to ensuring that all children receive the care they need.

“We have watched Texas Children’s Hospital care for the sickest kids, and as the new chairman of the board, I want to continue to help the hospital expand on this mission by providing unparalleled access to care for the Houston community and beyond.”

Linn is currently a senior advisor with Quantum Energy Partners and president and CEO of MCL Ventures LLC, an oil/gas/real estate investment firm. He is also the founder and former chairman, CEO and president of LINN Energy, LLC.

In his role of chairman of the board, Linn will guide the hospital as we complete Legacy Tower, our new pediatric tower at the Texas Medical Center campus.

January 9, 2018

The countdown clock is ticking. Texas Children’s Nursing will host its fourth virtual town hall from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, January 16, at the Pavilion for Women Conference Center.

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

Hosted by Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre’, the town hall will include a discussion of FY17 nursing accomplishments, system updates, and readiness for the January 22 – 24 Magnet site visit, a crucial step in the hospital’s journey toward Magnet re-designation. The town hall will also include time for Q&A. Nurses watching the livestream remotely will be able to participate in the Q&A session thanks to our use of virtual technology.

“By leveraging new technology at our first town hall, we were able to engage more nurses in a town hall than we ever had before,” Andre’ said. “As our team continues to grow, it will be increasingly important for us to identify and leverage opportunities to make communication easier and more effective.”

For nurses who cannot attend the live event, there will be several gathering locations to view the live stream:

Wallace Tower (for Ambulatory Services) – D.0800.39 (eighth floor)
West Campus – WC.150.10 and WC.150.20 (first floor)
The Woodlands Hospital [Conference Rooms A, B (second floor)] Health Centers – Sugar Land, Cy-Fair, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Clear Lake
The Center for Children and Women (Greenspoint and Southwest)
Forming your own huddles? Please submit sign-in sheet to jcchilds@texaschildrens.org.

As always, patient care is our first priority, and we know not all nurses will be able to attend the live event or view the live stream. However, those nurses will still be able to participate by viewing the event on-demand at their convenience.

Click here to pre-register for the Nursing Town Hall.

January 3, 2018

Three weeks from now, a Magnet® appraiser team will visit Texas Children’s facilities for a site visit, which represents a huge milestone in the hospital’s journey towards achieving Magnet® re-designation.

Since 2003, Texas Children’s has been a Magnet-designated organization. Every four years, the hospital applies for Magnet® re-designation, which is the highest and most prestigious recognition provided by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and reflects our commitment to excellent patient care.

From January 22 to 24, 2018, Magnet® appraisers will conduct a site visit at Texas Children’s, which is one of the many required steps to obtain Magnet® re-designation. The site visit will allow nurses and the entire health care team to engage with the Magnet® appraisers, share their exceptional achievements, highlight our great partnership, exceptional care delivery and collaboration to enhance patient outcomes.

Last month, we launched a special series on Connect highlighting what employees “need to know” regarding this important site visit. This week, we answer the following two questions:

  1. What can you expect if you encounter one of the Magnet® appraisers on site?
    The Magnet® appraiser will be accompanied by a staff nurse. They will be going to every clinical area (unit or clinic) that nurses practice. The Magnet® appraiser will typically ask questions about how patient care is delivered at Texas Children’s, and how others interface with nursing staff. Be prepared to discuss how you collaborate with nurses to provide patient care. Be open and honest, and discuss the work that you do every day at Texas Children’s.
  2. How were we able to reach this milestone (a Magnet site visit) in the re-designation process?
    The 10-month Magnet® re-designation process required tremendous collaboration among many departments across the organization including Nursing, Quality and Safety, Nursing Clinical Informatics, Human Resources, Information Services (IS), Patient and Family Services and Marketing.

In January 2016, Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre in collaboration with our Magnet® team, nursing, and the interprofessional team across the organization, reviewed each Magnet® standard with our consultant and aligned the submitted source of evidence examples to the Magnet standards. Every other month we had a three-day Magnet® writers workshop for our Magnet writing team who developed the Texas Children’s Hospital exemplars that contributed to our system-wide achievements. Necessary materials and documentation were included in our Magnet® website.

Click here for answers to the previous questions featured in the Magnet® “what you need to know” series.

To access and review the written documentation submitted to Magnet®, click here. To learn more about the ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program®, click here.

December 20, 2017

In a little over a month, a Magnet appraiser team will visit Texas Children’s facilities for a site visit, which represents a huge milestone in the hospital’s journey towards achieving Magnet® re-designation.

Since 2003, Texas Children’s has been a Magnet-designated organization. Every four years, the hospital applies for Magnet® re-designation, which is the highest and most prestigious recognition provided by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), and reflects Texas Children’s commitment to providing excellent patient care.

From January 22 to 24, 2018, Magnet® appraisers will conduct a site visit at Texas Children’s, which is one of the many required steps to obtain Magnet® re-designation. The site visit will provide an opportunity for nurses and the entire health care team to engage with the Magnet® appraisers, share their exceptional accomplishments, highlight our great partnership, exceptional care delivery and collaboration to enhance patient outcomes.

Earlier this month, we launched a special series on Connect highlighting what employees “need to know” regarding this important site visit. To start the series off, we answered the questions: “What is Magnet?”…and “Why is it so important?”

This week, we answer these next two questions:

What steps have we taken in our journey towards Magnet® re-designation?

  • August 2015 – Texas Children’s application submitted to Magnet
  • February 2017 – Written documentation submitted to Magnet
  • August 2017 – Clarification questions answered and submitted to Magnet
  • October 2017 – Application and written documentation approved after appraiser review
  • January 2018 – Magnet® appraisers will conduct a site visit at Texas Children’s

After the site visit from January 22 to 24, the Magnet® appraisers will submit a report to the Magnet® Commission, which makes the final determination regarding Texas Children’s Magnet® re-designation.

Where can employees access and review the written documentation submitted to Magnet®?

Texas Children’s Magnet® document can be viewed here.

Stay tuned to Connect for more of what you “need to know” regarding our upcoming Magnet® site visit. To learn more about the ANCC’s Magnet Recognition Program®, click here.

December 19, 2017

Dr. Carla Davis has been appointed the new head of the Section of Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology and Chief of the Allergy/Immunology Service in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Jordan Orange, who currently holds this position, will be leaving Texas Children’s to become the new Chair of Columbia University’s Department of Pediatrics. Until his departure in the Spring 2018, Orange will work closely with Davis to ensure a smooth transition of leadership.

Davis earned an M.D. degree from Duke University Medical School in 1997. She completed pediatric residency training at Baylor and Texas Children’s, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in Allergy and Immunology (2001-2003) and HIV/AIDS Clinical Research (2000-2001 and 2003-2004). She joined the Baylor faculty as an assistant professor in 2005 and was promoted to associate professor in 2015. Davis is certified by both the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. She is an internationally recognized authority and investigator in the field of food allergies.

“Under Dr. Davis’ leadership, I have no doubt that our outstanding programs in Immunology, Allergy and Rheumatology will continue to flourish,” said Texas Children’s Physician-in-Chief Mark W. Kline. “Please join me in thanking Dr. Davis for her willingness to take on this important leadership role.”