May 10, 2016

51116texaschildrensrice640What happens when Texas Children’s surgeons and Rice University engineering students collaborate to develop innovative solutions to reduce the pain of stent removal after a urinary tract procedure? An award-winning device that could potentially revolutionize the field of pediatric urologic surgery.

Last fall, Dr. Chester Koh, a pediatric urologist and surgeon at Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine, challenged a group of Rice students to come up with an innovative tool to simplify ureteral stent removals, a fairly common procedure that is performed on more than 2,000 pediatric patients nationwide each year.

After a stent is inserted into a patient’s ureter to improve urine flow from the kidneys to the bladder, the stent is removed after four weeks of healing. The current procedure involves inserting an endoscope into the urethra and bladder to locate the stent and pull it out, which requires children to be placed under anesthesia.

After extensively collaborating with Texas Children’s surgeons to better understand the challenges of the current procedure and the need for refinement, the Rice team developed a simple, less invasive device to remove ureteral stents from children using a small magnetic bead and a powerful custom-built electromagnet the team designed and 3-D printed at Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen. The tiny metallic bead can pass safely through the urethra as the magnet pulls the bead out of the body followed by the stent that the bead is attached to.

Rice students briefly considered designing a stent that would dissolve over time, but decided the magnetic attachment would be far simpler and less prone to complications. This new innovation in ureteral stent removal in children is less painful and costs two-thirds less than the standard procedure because it does not require anesthesia and it can be completed in minutes rather than hours.

The team’s invention, the Ureteral Stent Electromagnetic Removable Bead, won two significant awards this month: the top $5,000 prize at Rice University’s annual Engineering Design Showcase and the Grand Prize for student design at the annual Design of Medical Devices Conference in Minneapolis.

“We hope this device will transform the field of pediatric urologic surgery,” said Rice bioengineering student Eric Yin, who is considering applying his engineering expertise to a career in pediatric medicine. “A lot of devices are designed for adults and Dr. Koh is one of the movers trying to develop more devices that are designed for children.”

Koh says the Rice team’s new device – and others designed in partnership with Texas Children’s surgeons – address the severe shortage of medical devices designed for infants and children.

“The development of pediatric medical devices lag adult device development by more than 10 years,” said Koh, who has a mechanical engineering degree from the University of California, Berkeley. “This is an important example of why academic partnerships are needed to advance pediatric medical device projects, since the pediatric medical device pipeline is currently limited. I applaud the Rice team for showing its dedication and passion to the kids under our care at Texas Children’s.”

Prior to coming to Texas Children’s to establish the robotic surgery program in 2013, Koh co-founded a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-supported pediatric device consortium based in Southern California. He is creating a similar initiative at Texas Children’s, drawing on the top engineering talent in the region.

This year, three engineering teams from Rice University and six teams from Texas A&M University are collaborating with Texas Children’s surgeons to develop new pediatric medical devices. with support from the Texas Children’s Auxiliary Denton Cooley Innovation Award. Koh plans to collaborate with other institutions in the future.

May 3, 2016

5416wayfinding640When Texas Children’s Hospital opened its doors in 1954, we had 224,000 square feet of space located in the middle of the Texas Medical Center. Now, our medical complex stretches throughout the greater Houston area and consists of more than 8 million square feet of multi-floor buildings, offices and parking garages.

Such immense growth is a reflection on the quality of care we provide and has been a proven benefit to the children and families of Texas and beyond. Our continued need for expansion also has presented some challenges, one of the main ones being effective wayfinding.

Navigating our buildings and hallways isn’t easy for our patients, families and many times our faculty and employees. The frustration this creates can severely tarnish how people view the patient experience we provide.

That’s why a team of representatives from various departments throughout the organization – Administration, Ambulatory Services, Facilities Planning & Development, Marketing and Public Relations, Patient and Family Relations, Surgical Services, Women’s Services and the medical staff – have been working for two years with internal and external experts to come up with and implement both long- and short-term solutions that will help people get the right care at the right time and in the right place.

“We want to make our patient experience as seamless and compassionate as possible,” said Vice President Matt Girotto, who is helping lead the wayfinding initiative. “Eliminating some of our wayfinding hurdles to make it easier for patients and their families get to where they need to go will surely improve and enhance their experience, allowing them to focus on what is most important – their medical care.”

Assistant Vice President Jill Pearsall also is helping lead the wayfinding initiative and said the changes that are being made will arm our employees with a better knowledge of our locations, empowering them to better help patients and their families who are having a hard time finding their way around.

“We need everyone engaged in this process in order for it to truly be effective,” Pearsall said. “So, please be on the lookout for new maps, building level guides, digital directories and more.”

These items are a nod to a larger, more comprehensive wayfinding initiative that is underway. Stay tuned and remember, the best wayfinding aid is the Texas Children’s employee who asks a patient, family or visitor how they can help.

Campus Map
A new, updated map of Texas Children’s Hospital in the Texas Medical Center has been posted in the public elevator cabs of our patient care facilities on the Main Campus. These maps feature:
Names for all buildings and towers with changes for:

  • Pediatric Tower E = Tower E
  • Clinical Care Center = Clinical Care Tower
  • Abercrombie = Abercrombie Building
  • Feigin = Feigin Tower

Note: Tower was added to the Clinical Care and Feigin facilities to assist in eliminating the confusion of Centers being located within a Center, for example, the Texas Children’s Cancer Center in the Clinical Care Center.

Partnered with the maps in the elevator cabs is a building directory that notes the departments that are accessible from the elevator. Prints of the map have a back side listing the address of each building, a place for notes and a list of important phone numbers that patients and visitors might find helpful during their stay. These prints will be available at every information/welcome desk, each check in location of every clinic or unit, on TexasChildrens.org, Connect, and with members of Guest Services and Volunteer Services to use in their daily interaction with patients and visitors.

Building Color Assignments
Each building now has an assigned color to add another layer of identification to our locations. You will be able to easily discern between buildings not only by name, but by color.

  • Pavilion for Women = Turquoise
  • Tower E = Yellow
  • West Tower = Purple
  • Abercrombie Building = Green
  • Feigin Tower = Blue
  • Clinical Care Tower = Orange

These colors will be added to the ongoing wayfinding signage as these changes and improvements continue to be implemented.

Building Level Guide
The Building Level Guide is a visual aid to assist in showing how the medical center campus is connected. The third Floor Bridge is highlighted on the Campus Map and in the Building Level Guide to demonstrate how to travel between buildings. In addition, the Texas Medical Center Parking Garage numbers and locations are listed under each building.

Portal Paint and Carpet Transition
To make it easier to identify transition points between buildings, the surrounding walls, will be painted the building’s corresponding color. In addition, the carpet at each transition point will be updated to also include the building’s color. Work will start on the portal paint and carpet transition this week and will be completed mid-June.

Wall (Omni) Signage
Facilities Planning and Development is currently working to combine the map and building level guide into a comprehensive wall feature in the public elevator lobbies. These wall features, or omni sinage, will be in prominent, high-traffic areas and are currently scheduled to be installed soon.

Information Stations
Digital building directories have been placed in two of the busiest areas of the hospital – the first and third floors of the Clinical Care Tower. On the first floor, a 48-inch monitor has been set up next to the information desk. On the third floor, three of the same size monitors are mounted on the wall between The Auxiliary Bridge and the information desk. All three monitors are touch-screen activated and feature a map of the medical center campus, step-by-step directions to various locations throughout Main Campus, and information on our services throughout the Houston area.

With these improvements, leaders will be asked to review their scheduling scripts, webpage, Epic templates, etc., to ensure that what we are telling families is consistent with our new approach. Similar color assignments are also being made to the West Campus and built into the design of The Woodlands hospital.

Long-term initiatives include:

  • Ensuring that patient experience and wayfinding is integrated into new employee orientation
  • Increasing the number of volunteers dedicated to helping patients find their way around campus
  • Finding a wayfinding app that will guide patients to their appropriate location

“We would like to thank all of those that are involved in helping improve how patients, families and visitors navigate our campuses,” Girotto said. “We have world class providers, staff and facilities, and we are now on the path to help bring all those things together in a more easy fashion for our patients.”

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please email wayfinding@texaschildrens.org.

April 12, 2016

41316malaria640The Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and Texas Children’s Global Health have been helping meet the health care needs of mothers and babies across the globe for years. With global health programs and projects in more than 20 countries, BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health have developed a network of partners who are sometimes called on to respond to emergency situations. For these scenarios, we often turn to Medical Bridges, a Houston-based non-profit that provides medical supplies and equipment to support our work.

Recently, BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health addressed pediatric emergencies in Papua New Guinea and during the Ebola crisis, in Liberia, with the help of Medical Bridges. Presently, there is an outbreak of malaria among pediatric patients in Luanda, Angola.

To address this health emergency, BIPAI, Texas Children’s Global Health and Texas Children’s Pediatric Hematology & Oncology program have partnered with Medical Bridges, Chevron and SonAir, an Angolan national air services company, to provide drugs, supplies and equipment to the Hospital Pediatrico David Bernardino (Bernadino Pediatric Hospital) in Luanda and to the hospital in Cacuaco. These much-needed drugs and supplies will help the staff at the hospitals address the recent outbreak of malaria among the pediatric population.

“BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health are fortunate to have partners like Chevron and Medical Bridges that can mobilize and respond proactively to public health emergencies around the world,” said Michael Mizwa, leader of BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health.

Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company, said the company is proud to be able to help mitigate public health situations such as these.

“We value our partnership with BIPAI and Texas Children’s Global Health,” Moshiri said. “This contribution underscores Chevron’s long-standing commitment to fight malaria and to the children of Angola who are most at risk for the disease”

The Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and Texas Children’s Global Pediatric Hematology & Oncology program started an Angola Sickle Cell Initiative (ASCI) in 2011 with generous support from Chevron, aimed at bringing neonatal Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) screening and care to two regions in Angola: Luanda and Cabinda. To date, 135,000 babies have been screened and, in 2015, with a donation from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), the first organized Hydroxyurea (HU) treatment program for Angola was begun.

April 8, 2016

4716Malawi550

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded a $69.8 million grant to the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation–Malawi (Baylor–Malawi), an affiliate of the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative at Texas Children’s Hospital, to support and expand HIV/AIDS programs in Southern Africa. The grant, through the USAID Regional HIV-AIDS Program, will fund a dynamic and innovative project called Technical Support to PEPFAR Programs in the Southern Africa Region, or TSP. Designed by the Baylor-Malawi team, TSP is a collaborative program that includes ICAP at Columbia University and Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundations in Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Angola.

“While Southern Africa remains the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, recent progress toward global elimination goals provides an impetus for coordinated, regional efforts,” said Dr. Saeed Ahmed, assistant professor of pediatrics with BIPAI who will lead TSP. “The program will address challenges related to HIV care and treatment, including pediatric and adolescent care, HIV prevention from mother to child and the unique gender aspects of the epidemic, providing a common regional platform for dissemination and rapid adoption of best practices.”

In support of the primary goal to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, TSP objectives are to:
Improve clinical and other technical outcomes of partner programs in the region by providing mission programs with technical support and short- and medium-term program assistance and capacity building toward sustainability;

Improve and rapidly expand pediatric and adolescent treatment services in the region by providing technical assistance in the short and medium term and longterm program support;

Implement PEPFAR programs directly, in close cooperation with USAID.

The TSP will provide a wealth of technical expertise, Ahmed said, including human resource capacity, physical infrastructure, existing networking and program implementation experience, bringing together formally the unique and complementary strengths of the Baylor network and ICAP at Columbia University. The Baylor foundations are the leading providers of pediatric and adolescent HIV care and treatment in their respective countries with Centers of Excellence anchoring broad networks of satellite clinics. ICAP, the second-largest PEPFAR implementing program, offers incredible geographic scope and technical, programmatic and monitoring and evaluation expertise. Combined, the Baylor network and ICAP have managed more than $1 billion in funding over the past 5 years, and are implementing more than 50 U.S. Government supported initiatives.

To provide assistance to regional HIV/AIDS programs, Baylor-Malawi and its partners have organized a ‘Dream Team’ of experts who will provide the technical advising backbone of the program. Through its implementing partners, the Dream Team will have access to an extensive network of more than 1,500 people, including doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, community health workers and volunteers, and pharmacists to provideHIV/AIDS program assistance and implementation.

“The high-quality assistance and program implementation provided by this project will strengthen the efforts in the region to achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 benchmarks, which call for 90 percent of HIV-infected individuals to know their status; 90 percent of patients who know their status to be started on and adherent to anti-retroviral therapy; and 90 percent of patients on ART to be viral suppressed by 2020” said Dr. Mark Kline, physician-in-chief, Texas Children’s Hospital and chairman of the department of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine.

Women and children are a special focus on the TSP program. It aims to achieve elimination of mother-to-child transmission, doubling of the number of children on anti-retroviral therapy and, through the DREAMS Initiative, assisting partners in developing interventions to address gender-based violence and reduce new HIV infections in adolescent girls and young women. DREAMS, or Determined, Resilient, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe Women, is a PEPFAR program to reduce HIV infections among girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa.

“This award is a true testament to the BIPAI Network’s ability and capacity as a global leader in pediatric HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Baylor–Malawi continues to excel in innovative program development,” said Michael Mizwa, chairman, Baylor–Malawi Board of Directors, chief operating office/senior vice president of BIPAI and director of global health at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“With the resources from this award, I am pleased that Baylor Malawi will lead a consortium that leverages the extensive expertise that is in the BIPAI network with its partners ICAP and regional ministries of health to accelerate the region’s advances to the 90-90-90 targets,” said Dr. Peter Kazembe, executive director of Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation–Malawi.

April 5, 2016

When a patient comes to Texas Children’s looking for an answer to their medical woes, lab work plays a big part in the diagnosis and treatment of that patient and their family.

A recent report by the Institute of Medicine has highlighted the need for improved diagnosis in healthcare. We at Texas Children’s want to continue to lead in that effort and build on our wide range of consultative services on clinical tests that are vital in guiding the diagnosis and therapy of patients.

That’s why we have partnered with Quest Diagnostics to provide outpatient reference lab services to our patients receiving care at our locations or any Quest Diagnostics Patient Service Center in the greater Houston area. Hospital patients will continue to utilize the Texas Children’s Pathology department for lab services.

“Many providers have been frustrated with the idea of dealing with 60-plus reference labs and trying to figure out how to provide the best possible care and quality to our patients,” Executive Vice President John Nickens said. “We took this as an opportunity to look at the market as one entity, as one Texas Children’s experience.”

As a result of our partnership with Quest Diagnostics, a pediatric trained phlebotomist will be available at most Texas Children’s Pediatrics, Health Centers, and The Centers across the Houston area. The partnership will allow Texas Children’s to take advantage of the company’s technical expertise and pair it with our medical knowledge to improve the quality of testing for our patients.

“As we look ahead in the 21st century, we know we’re going to need to be even more accurate and more refined in terms of diagnosis so we can deliver the very specific treatment each patient needs and deserves,” Pathologist-in-Chief Dr. James Versalovic said. “This partnership will allow us to do that and to foster innovation in a way we weren’t able to do before.”

If you would like more information or have questions about the partnership between Quest Diagnostics and Texas Children’s, please contact Cindy Beckley, project manager, at chbeckl2@texaschildrens.org or Ext. 4-5115.

March 29, 2016

Texas Children’s six in-chiefs lead a team of some of the top pediatric specialist in the nation. That team and their leaders are being recognized this week in honor of Doctor’s Day. See for yourself how integral they are to the success of our organization and the health of the many children who come to Texas Children’s each year.

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When you see Texas Children’s growing footprint in the Houston community – like the construction of Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands and the 19-floor vertical expansion of Pediatric Tower E – we’ve achieved amazing things to ensure we deliver the right care at the right place and time to our patients. While our physical footprint reflects our commitment to patient care, it also demonstrates our commitment to green building initiatives in the design and construction of our health care facilities.

Our Facilities Planning and Development Department has used the new construction checklist from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as a guide for designing Texas Children’s buildings to help maximize efficiency while significantly reducing operational costs across the organization.

“We design energy-efficient buildings to meet or exceed current energy codes as well as assess energy saving ideas for payback of five years or less,” said Jill Pearsall, Texas Children’s assistant vice president of Facilities Planning and Development. “Texas Children’s has historically invested in our long-term facilities for optimal performance including assessment of the first costs, long-term maintenance costs and replacement costs over the life of the buildings.”

Energy-efficient applications in the building design include high performance exterior glass, lighting motion sensors, public restroom hands-free motion sensor faucets, durable floor materials to avoid high maintenance costs and chemical cleaners, and the installation of building system controls to monitor and adjust energy consumption.

“Our iconic Texas Children’s granite on the outside of our facilities is a regional material from Marble Falls, Texas, and we incorporate daylight into our interior designs as much as possible,” Pearsall added.

With Texas Children’s Earth Day celebration less than one month away, there are so many other green initiative milestones worthy of recognition. Click here to read the accomplishments spearheaded by our Green Team.

Save the date – Texas Children’s Earth Day celebration

On Friday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Green Team will host two celebrations on Earth Day – one on The Auxiliary Bridge at Main Campus and one at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus.

Dozens of vendors will be available to provide eco-friendly, cost-saving tips to employees including how to become more energy efficient, tips on eating green, as well as ways to reduce waste and recycle more.

At Main and West campuses, Pharmacy will be hosting the “Medication Disposal and Medication Take Back Program.” Please gather and bring expired medications to the event for proper disposal.

Two tree planting events are slated for Earth Day. West Campus President Chanda Cashen Chacón and Vice President Matt Schaefer will plant a tree at West Campus and Executive Vice President John Nickens will plant one at Main Campus thanks to the generous donations from Trees for Houston.

Stay tuned to Connect for more details about Texas Children’s Earth Day celebrations. Also, if you’d like to reach out to the Green Team with your green ideas, email teamgreen@texaschildrens.org.