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.

In the past several weeks, Texas Children’s has seen an increase in confirmed flu cases among both our patients and employees. In order to prevent the spread of infection and protect yourself and others from the flu, please remember to perform the following good health habits:

  • Stay home when you are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
  • If you begin to feel sick with flu-like symptoms while at work, please call the Employee Medical Clinic at 832-824-2424.
  • When possible, avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Wash your hands often.
  • Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home and at work, especially when someone is ill.
  • Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids and eat nutritious food.

For more tips on preventing the flu, visit CDC Flu Prevention.

The single best way to prevent the flu or reducing the severity of the illness is getting vaccinated. Please contact Employee Health at 832-824-2150, option 2, for more information.

Flu Vaccine participation update

We are pleased to announce that Texas Children’s has achieved a 91 percent flu vaccination rate, with 11,712 employees receiving the vaccine to date. Although we are excited to reach this level of participation, we still want to encourage employees to get vaccinated. It is not too late!

If you elect to decline the flu vaccine this year, you are required to complete a 2017 Flu Declination Form. Prior to completing the declination form, review the Flu Vaccine Information Statement (VIS). The declination form can be found on the Employee Health and Wellness Portal. Follow these instructions:

  • Go to the Employee Health and Wellness Portal.
  • Proceed and log in. If this is your first time logging into the portal, please click “Having trouble logging in” to reset your password.
  • Once you log in, click on the “Forms” tab, then select the 2017 – Flu Declination Form.

For a visual guide to logging onto the portal, click here.

As a reminder, staff who do not receive their flu vaccine should wear a surgical mask when providing direct patient care services for the duration of the flu season. See Required Influenza Vaccination Policy and Procedure for more details.

Thank you for getting your flu vaccine and following good health habits to prevent the spread of germs to your patients and colleagues.

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.

Five-year-old Marianne Franco failed every hearing test since she was born, causing her to move through life lip reading and hearing what she could with a hearing aid. All of that recently changed when doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands turned on the cochlear implant Marianne received weeks before.

As an audiologist rang a bell, the girl gave a grin. When they continued to ask her questions, trying to gauge how much she could hear, Marianne’s mom, Lizette, whispered behind her daughter’s head.

“I hear that,” Marianne said.

“What did you hear?” her mom asked.

Marianne is not sure yet how to discern exactly what she’s hearing. She’s grown up lip reading and has been able to pick up amplified sounds through a hearing aid. However, the sounds have never been crisp or at a safe volume. That’s why her family opted for Texas Children’s physicians in The Woodlands to surgically place a cochlear implant inside her head and give her the chance to hear.

“I think she’s going to do fantastic with the implant,” said Pediatric Otolaryngologist Dr. Jill Beck, explaining that the implant in Marianne’s head is sending a wireless signal to the outside processor. The nerve that’s being exercised for the first time is so fragile they have to send very soft sounds that will gradually build with time.

Meanwhile, she has to learn what sounds to associate with words in both English and Spanish. It will be exhausting, but Marianne is willing to work hard. To understand her motivation, you have to think like a child. Minutes after her implant was on, she asked to go underwater. She’s never heard the sound of water.

“You’ve been dreaming about this right?” Lizette asked.

Beck said Marianne is one of four children at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands to get this kind of implant. As technology gets better, she said, there’s a lot of promise that this will become a more routine procedure.

For more information about Texas Children’s cochlear implant team and the Eat & Hearing Center at Texas Children’s click here.

To watch KPRC Channel 2’s story about Marianne’s cochlear implant and reaction to hearing the world like she never has before, click here. To read a story in the Houston Chronicle about her implant, click here.

December 12, 2017

A lot happens behind the scenes before patients are wheeled into the operating room at Texas Children’s Hospital to undergo surgery. Technicians disinfect the OR from top to bottom and a team of people with the Sterile Processing Department clean, prepare, assemble and sterilize surgical instruments for patient care.

At Texas Children’s Main OR in the Medical Center, the sterile processing team handles instruments for close to 80 procedures a day Monday through Friday and around 15 procedures on the weekends. The procedures can require anywhere from two to 12 sets of instruments each with a numerous amount of single instruments.

The team processes more than 17,000 instruments a day. To be able to handle this and keep up with the demands there are 3,200 plus sets of instruments. Sterilization of the instrument sets can be accomplished by steam, hydrogen peroxide, or ethylene oxide. Each requires special quality assurance monitoring and designated time for completion.

There are also operating rooms designated for cardiovascular cases, at Wallace Tower, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands that have their own sterile processing areas.

Click here to watch Channel 11 KHOU’s story about Texas Children’s sterile processing team.

December 5, 2017

A little over a year ago, Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands Outpatient Building opened its doors to the Greater Houston area and beyond. Since then, the ever-growing team of providers and support staff have seen 50,000 plus patients in the outpatient areas and received numerous compliments from the patients and family members they serve.

“Our first year has been packed with many new and exciting opportunities,” said Julie Barrett, director of outpatient and clinical support services for the Outpatient Building. “We have grown substantially, adding new service lines, providers and staff, and we have established a culture that exemplifies our mission to provide the best possible care for our patients and their families.”

Designed with a “spirit of the woods” theme to incorporate the lush, woodsy landscape that surrounds it, the six-floor, 209,973-square-foot Outpatient Building opened in October 2016 housing almost 20 areas of specialized care including cardiology, sports medicine, neurology and hematology/oncology. A dedicated medical staff at the facility works in conjunction with the Texas Children’s system to provide top-notch medical care.

Connected to the almost year-old Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands on floors one and two, the Outpatient Building offers a fresh, new kid-friendly environment to 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.

Susan Niles, a senior athletic trainer with Sports Medicine, said the Outpatient Building’s Sports Medicine staff has grown substantially since it starting seeing patients a year ago, adding nurses, physical therapists, athletic trainers and a sports dietitian. Such growth has allowed the staff to provide quicker access to therapy services, Niles said. It also has provided opportunities for research.

“Using technology from the motion analysis lab, we have launched a research project that we hope will provide breakthrough information on concussions,” Niles said. “We are the only campus with a motion analysis lab and we are excited to use the technology for our patients.”

Ambulatory Services Therapy Manager Jay Mennel said another unique service offered in The Woodlands comes by way of an Alter-G treadmill, an anti-gravity treadmill utilized by sports therapy patients, he said. Such a specialized service combined with other specialty clinics led to the therapy staff completing more than 18,000 outpatient visits during the Outpatient Building’s first year in operation.

“We have some fantastic physicians and great senior leadership at The Woodlands, which has helped our department grow at an exceptional rate,” Mennel said. “We hope to continue to grow this next fiscal year.”

Heather Jordan, a staff nurse in Outpatient Surgical Services, Melanie Garcia, a medical assistant with Plastic Surgery, and Yvonne Barham a staff nurse with Diabetes and Endocrine, all said they have seen tremendous growth in their areas and that they have seen patients from all over Texas and surrounding states.

“Our patients have come from Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Bryan/College Station, Corpus Christi, Port Arthur, and Louisiana,” Barham said. “Many of the local residents have stated how happy they are to not have to travel for their regular office visits.”

Garcia agreed and said patient experience is something that everyone at The Woodlands Outpatient Building takes to heart. “We go above and beyond on a daily basis to make sure every patient feels special,” she said. “We are always improving, always compassionately serving each other and our patients.”

When asked what’s next, leaders, providers and staff point to continued growth and involvement in The Woodlands community.

“Now that we are here and have established workflows, processes and procedures, we can begin to work on things such as more access to patients and families, and staff being more involved in the community,” said Shawnda Kelley, ambulatory manager of various service lines at the Outpatient Building. “I am happy and proud to be a part of this new beginning and can’t wait to see what’s next.”

November 21, 2017

Because of the complexity of conditions seen at Texas Children’s, many patients and families view the health system and its staff as a family that supports them both inside and outside the hospital. That relationship was on full display November 15 when several patients of the Texas Children’s Craniofacial Clinic were given the opportunity to attend a free, early screening of the movie, Wonder.

Wonder tells the incredibly inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time. Based on the New York Times bestseller, the film stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay.

“We feel that this screening was a wonderful opportunity to highlight the courage displayed by so many of the children that we help treat every day,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of plastic surgery and associate surgeon-in-chief for clinical affairs at Texas Children’s. “And it reinforces the importance of seeing things through others’ point of view. Finally, we thought it was a great opportunity for everyone to attend a real movie premiere.”

The premiere was sponsored by members of the Children’s Craniofacial Association and Texas Children’s Craniofacial Clinic team, which treats and researches complex craniofacial differences such as Treacher Collins Syndrome, the one highlighted in Wonder.

Held at AMC Studio 30 on Dunvale Road in Houston, the screening of the movie began with patients and families walking down a red carpet and posing for photographs before making their way to the theater. The event ended with comments from two Craniofacial Clinic patients and their family members.

Grace Anto, a 10-year-old Craniofacial Clinic patient, said she could relate to much of what August, the lead character in the movie, went through.

“I have felt like Auggie,” she said. “Every time I make a new friend, it’s like a new beginning.”

Twelve-year-old Lance Dromgoole, another Craniofacial Clinic patient, agreed and said his favorite part of the movie was when August and Jack became friends.

“That was definitely the best,” he said.

Like the lead character in Wonder, Lance and Grace have had multiple surgeries to correct their craniofacial differences. Grace has had 10 surgeries and Lance has undergone 38. Some of those procedures helped Lance breathe better and others gave him actual ears, something he was born without.

Lance’s grandmother, Kathy Dromgoole, said she will never forget the first time Lance was able to put on sunglasses and that she will forever be grateful for the care her grandson has received at Texas Children’s. Regarding the movie, she said she hopes Wonder shows people that children with craniofacial differences are normal kids and that they deserve to be treated as such.

Grace’s mother, Lynn Anto, said the movie beautifully illustrates the power of kindness and how greatly it is needed people’s lives.

“Everyone is going through something,” she said. “And everyone could use a little kindness.”

Athena Krasnosky, a nurse practitioner with the Craniofacial Clinic and one of the organizers of the screening, told last week’s audience that Texas Children’s sees itself and its patients and families as one big happy family, and that everyone within the Craniofacial Clinic was thrilled to have been able to watch such a meaningful film together.

“We are so glad to have been able see this movie together tonight as a family,” she said. “We hope you enjoyed it.”

Haley Streff, a genetic counselor with Texas Children’s and another organizer of the movie screening, echoed Krasnosky’s comments and said the moving screening was a powerful experience.

“All of us here have a connection to someone with a craniofacial difference,” she said. “We all can relate in one way or another to what just happened on that movie screen.”