August 15, 2017

The Cardiology Patient Care Unit (CPCU) on 15 West Tower recently achieved a remarkable milestone – they reached 365 days and counting with zero central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI).

Since their last CLABSI on July 14, 2016, the CPCU team has worked diligently to follow the CLABSI and hygiene bundles to provide high quality care to the numerous patients they see daily with central line catheters.

Last fall, nurses collaborated with their infection control partners in education and vascular access to implement a massive educational initiative that trained more than 2,000 nurses across the organization on several key skills in central line care. By providing central line care support and education, the CPCU has been able to address concerns early before they potentially manifest into a bloodstream infection.

Congratulations to the CPCU team for their continued commitment to helping Texas Children’s cultivate an environment for safe patient care. The unit celebrated this huge accomplishment with a breakfast.

August 8, 2017

Texas Children’s is a large and growing health system with many specialties and sub-specialties. We take care of the sickest of the sick and provide routine pediatric care to otherwise healthy children. Many times that care involves not one medical expert but a team of medical experts, including pediatric anesthesiologist.

“The core role of the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine is to provide surgical anesthesia, but we are not just in the operating room,” Anesthesiologist-In-Chief Dr. Dean B. Andropoulos said. “We provide care in radiology, our Pain Medicine Clinic, in the Intensive Care Units, and at all three Texas Children’s Hospital campuses. We also are in the laboratory doing cutting edge research, writing some of the top textbooks in our field, and educating and training the next generation of pediatric anesthesiologists.”

During a recent Department of Surgery Grand Rounds, Andropoulos discussed the strategic goals of his growing department and how it touches almost every aspect of patient care.

The department’s 78 pediatric anesthesiologists represent the largest group of pediatric anesthesiologists in the country. All are board certified or are in the process of becoming board certified and all provide anesthetic care in almost 60 locations on a daily basis.

Across these locations, Texas Children’s anesthesiologists were involved in 43,456 cases last year, a 36 percent increase from the number of cases anesthesiologists participated in seven years ago. The majority of the cases worked last year, 68 percent, occurred in the operating room. The remaining 32 percent of cases happened outside the OR in various inpatient and outpatient settings.

“The fact that we do more than 40,000 anesthetics in a year lends to the level of expertise of our group,” said Medical Director of Perioperative Services Dr. Chris Glover. “I don’t know of another place where you can take your child to get the amount of expertise that exists here.”

This level of expertise was recently exemplified by the expansion of the Pre-Anesthesia Screening Service (PASS) Clinic to Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands. These clinics are involved in pre-anesthetic consultation and planning for patients with complex medical problems or who are undergoing complicated surgical procedures.

Patients are evaluated by anesthesiology nurse practitioners and anesthesiologists, and an anesthetic plan is developed that is communicated to parents, surgeons and procedural physicians. This planning leads to improved patient and family education, better outcomes and fewer delays and cancellations of surgery. This service emphasizes the increasing role of pediatric anesthesiologists as perioperative physicians whose expertise benefits patients all across the Texas Children’s system.

Being part of an academic center, Baylor College of Medicine, allows the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine to continue to strengthen and grow its already solid knowledge base, Andropoulos said.

In addition to providing top notch clinical care, the department’s clinical staff is involved in numerous clinical and basic science research protocols, many of which are funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Just last year, the department’s faculty published over 40 articles peer reviewed journals. They also served as editor and/or author of eight textbooks, including Anesthesia for Congenital Heart Disease, 3rd Edition. The textbook is the leading reference source for the field.

The department has taken a lead in educating anesthesiologists at Texas Children’s and beyond about the Federal Drug Administration’s recent warning that repeated or lengthy use of general anesthetic and sedation drugs during surgeries or procedures in children younger than 3 or in pregnant women during their third trimester may affect the development of children’s brains.

“Parents know we are up-to-date on the very latest information,” Andropoulos said. They also know we all are aware that taking care of their child is a privilege, a real responsibility that we take extremely seriously.”

Members of the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine are always striving to do better and have set out three primary strategic goals for the next few years. These goals are:

  • To enhance patient experience by design and enhanced method of measuring anesthesiology patients satisfaction data.
  • Expand pain services by creating a strong business model for the service line and engaging and strengthening collaborative partnerships with clinical specialties to increase access to care for pain patients.
  • Increase research grant funding and resources by growing the volume of peer reviewed journal publications and grant proposals in the department and acquiring more funding from major grant proposals.

“We will continue to strengthen and grow our department,” Andropoulos said. “We want to remain one of the top pediatric anesthesiology programs in the country.”

Department leadership and contact information
  • Anesthesiologist-In-Chief, Dr. Dean B. Andropoulos
  • Associate Anesthesiologist-In-Chief Academic Affairs, Dr. Blaine Easley
  • Associate Anesthesiologist-In-Chief Clinical Affairs, Dr. Emad Mossad
  • Medical Director of Perioperative Services, Dr. Chris Glover

For more information about Texas Children’s Hospital Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, visit the department’s website at http://www.texaschildrens.org/departments/anesthesiology or call ext. 4-5800.

July 11, 2017

For two weeks in June, Camp For All 2U brought the joy of summer camp to patients at Texas Children’s Hospital’s Main and West Campuses.

The program transforms areas of the hospital into camp, providing patients who may not get the experience of camp outside of the hospital the opportunity to enjoy a variety of games and activities. With a different theme each day, camp activities include archery, a petting zoo, arts and crafts and much more.

“We are so excited to have Camp For All 2U here at Main Campus for the second time,” said Child Life Specialist Sarah Herbek, who collaborated with Camp For All to bring the experience to Texas Children’s. “For many of these patients, this is the only opportunity they will have to experience camp this summer due to their current medical condition.”

Camp For All Program Supervisor Allen McBride said he was thrilled to be back at Main Campus and, with the generous support of the Wood Group, to be able to expand the program to West Campus.

“We are grateful to be able to give these patients the chance to temporarily forget what they are going through and just enjoy being a kid,” McBride said.

And, enjoy they did. Many of the patients didn’t want to leave camp and signed up to attend for multiple days.

View photos from Camp For All 2 U below.

Child Life Specialist Riley Hammond was key to getting the camp at West Campus and said “It is huge for staff and parents to see these kids having so much fun. In terms of normalization in the child life world, camp has tremendous positive impact on patients and families.”

It wasn’t just the children who were having fun. Camp counselors, volunteers and hospital staff were overcome with smiles, laughter and child-like joy as well. Some even went so far as to let the camp goers throw a pie in their face just for laughs.

Andrew Stewart, CEO of the Wood Group, was one of those volunteers and said he and his executive team wanted to participate in something extraordinary that would support the amazing work that’s already being done at Texas Children’s.

“We’ve had a wonderful time,” he said. “And, I think the children have as well.”

For more information about Camp For All, visit www.campforall.org.

On June 28, Texas Children’s Transplant Services held a celebration in honor of reaching an important milestone – the completion of 1,500 transplants.

The milestone further solidifies Texas Children’s position as one of the most active pediatric transplant programs in the nation, per the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

“Texas Children’s transplant program is key to our medical and academic success,” said Executive Vice President Mark Mullarkey. “This really differentiates us and I can’t thank you enough for that.”

Transplantation began at Texas Children’s in 1984 with a pediatric heart transplant that was performed by Dr. O.H. “Bud” Frazier. Since that time, liver, kidney and lung have been added and countless lives have been saved. Just last year, 86 organ transplants were performed at Texas Children’s – 32 kidney transplants, 25 heart transplants, 21 liver transplants and 8 lung transplants.

The Transplant Team’s 1,500th transplant occurred on May 21 when 17-year-old Joseph McCullough received a new liver, giving him a chance at a new life after battling primary sclerosing cholangitis, a life-threatening disease that causes end-stage liver disease. McCullough was at last month’s celebration and thanked everyone in the crowd.

“When I was little, I loved Super Heroes. Today, I know who the real Super Heroes are and that’s you,” McCullough said. “I am honored to be up here to say thank you and that transplantation is a beautiful process.”

Other transplant recipients in the audience were Amelia Hicks and Carson Kainer. Amelia received a heart transplant when she was an infant. She is now a thriving kindergartener. Kainer received a kidney transplant at Texas Children’s as a young adult and became the first professional baseball player to play after an organ transplant.

“I got to live out my dream after my transplant because of you here today,” Kainer said. “Thank you so much for what you’ve done, what you do today and the lives you will impact in the future.”

When Dr. John Goss, medical director of Transplant Services and surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program at Texas Children’s, took the podium, he thanked all of the donors who make the transplant process possible and his team for making stupendous strides in a complex field.

“I want you to understand how special you are,” Goss said. “We do a lot of very complex procedures here and we’ve gone from doing about 20 a year to around 100 and I foresee us doing even more in the future.”

For more information about Texas Children’s Transplant Services, click here. To register to become an organ donor, click here.

June 28, 2017

Texas Children’s leaders and members of the Heart Center team gathered early Tuesday to celebrate U.S. News & World Report’s recent announcement that Texas Children’s is now ranked No. 1 in cardiology and heart surgery. Ranked second in the nation for the past two years, Texas Children’s Heart Center has surpassed Boston Children’s Heart Center, which had held the top ranking for the past 19 years.

“This ranking is a culmination of the many years our Heart Center team has dedicated to providing high-quality care to our patients,” said Chief of Cardiology Dr. Daniel J. Penny to a packed conference room at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. “By being ranked No. 1 means we have an even greater role in shaping the field of pediatric cardiology and heart surgery.”

Surgeon-in-Chief and Chief of Congenital Heart Surgery Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr. agreed and said the ranking is an incredible legacy that began long ago with Drs. Denton Cooley and Dan McNamara, both of whom were pioneers in their field and among the first to demonstrate that small children could safely undergo heart surgery.

“Every single one of you is responsible for this,” Fraser said to the crowd, which included Heart Center leaders Chief of Cardiovascular Anesthesia Dr. Emad Mossad, Chief of Critical Care Dr. Lara Shekerdemian and Anesthesiologist-In-Chief Dr. Dean Andropoulos. “There is no greater or lesser here.”

In addition to the entire Heart Center team, Fraser thanked Texas Children’s President and CEO Mark A. Wallace for “standing by us every single step of the way.”

Fraser said he remembers meeting with Wallace and the late Dr. Ralph D. Feigin when he first was being recruited to Texas Children’s Hospital back in 1994. The trio discussed creating a true Heart Center where each and every patient would be surrounded by medical professionals of the highest quality.

That goal has been achieved and so much more with the Heart Center’s surgical team performing more than 1,000 open-heart surgeries annually and 25 heart transplants in 2016, the most of any pediatric program in the nation.

The Heart Center’s cardiologists annually perform roughly 1,200 cardiac catheterizations, a less invasive treatment made possible by the threading of a long, flexible tube from a blood vessel in the leg to the heart. Most such cases would have required open-heart surgery 20 years ago.

The cardiology team also performs about 250 catheter-enabled ablation treatments in children with irregular heartbeats, a treatment that cauterizes the abnormal pathway to correct the problems. Such patients previously required lifelong medication.

Fraser and Penny said the Heart Center will continue to grow and that they are excited about its next step, which will be to move into Legacy Tower once it’s complete. The 19-floor vertical expansion will house new operating rooms, a new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, neuro ICU rooms, surgical ICU rooms, a progressive care unit and eight floors dedicated to just the Heart Center.

“This No. 1 ranking will give us a greater role shaping the field, making the things that are impossible now possible in 2027,” Penny said. ”Although we’re No. 1 this year, we need to be better next year and the year after and the year after that.”

Read Mark Wallace’s blog, On The Mark, to learn more about the Heart Center’s No. 1 ranking.

June 27, 2017

During his annual Department of Surgery year-in-review, Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Charles D. Fraser Jr. asked his colleagues to take a moment to reflect on what they have accomplished over the past year and to contemplate the abundance of opportunities that lie ahead.

“Look at what went on in just one year,” Fraser emphasized by pointing to a timeline of accomplishments during the 2016-2017 academic year. “That’s a pretty big year.”

Over the past 12 months, the Department of Surgery has:

  • Greatly expanded its facilities at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, Wallace Tower, Texas Children’s Specialty Care Bellaire and Texas Children’s Specialty Care Eagle Springs. The department, along with the entire Texas Children’s system, announced an exciting initiative to bring Texas Children’s to Austin within the next year and held a topping out ceremony for Legacy Tower, a 19-floor vertical expansion that will house new operating rooms, a new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, neuro ICU rooms, surgical ICU rooms, a progressive care unit and eight floors dedicated to just the Heart Center.
  • Continued to build a dedicated team of pediatric-focused surgeons across nine surgical divisions: Congenital Heart Surgery, Dental, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Otolaryngology, Pediatric Surgery, Plastic Surgery and Urology. Over the previous academic year, the team grew to more than 100 surgeons and 111 advanced practice providers. Several members of the team earned prestigious awards and promotions for their academic, clinical and research efforts.
  • Strengthened its commitment to support surgical research by dedicating space to the Department of Surgery Research Lab and building a strong team of multidisciplinary surgeon scientists.
  • Maintained its focus on patient care in seeing more than 175,000 outpatient visits and 51,000 operating room hours over 27,600 cases.

“As you can see, we are dedicated to meeting our mission and vision with multiple community health centers and three Texas Children’s Hospital locations throughout the Greater Houston area,” Fraser said. “We take great pride in caring for children from all around the globe no matter how complex the problem.”

The ability to provide such care will continue to grow and improve, Fraser said, emphasizing the opportunities Austin and Legacy Tower will bring.

“The Austin community will really appreciate the TCH approach to patient care,” he said. “The opportunities there are boundless.”

The same goes for Legacy Tower, which Fraser said will enable his department to continue to focus on providing the highest quality surgical care.

In closing, Fraser asked the members of the department of surgery to contemplate how each are to leave a mark on Texas Children’s legacy and keep improving the care they are able to give our patients. He said he believes that Texas Children’s will make its mark as one of the top pediatric surgical centers in the world by establishing more endowed chairs, building a surgical simulation laboratory, producing national and internationally known leaders and tackling some of society’s major public health problems.

“I humbly believe there is no other children’s hospital like Texas Children’s Hospital,” Fraser said. “I also believe that we continue to be presented with unique opportunities to become even better. Our job is to make sure we seize those opportunities, some of which could come around only once in a lifetime.”

To read the recently released 2016 Department of Surgery Annual Report, click here.

On June 19, sickle cell patients, families, physicians and others joined forces to celebrate World Sickle Cell Day and raise awareness about sickle cell disease, an inherited red blood cell disorder that affects about 100,000 Americans and many more worldwide.

Held in the lobby of the Children’s Nutrition Research Center, the event featured an art project created by sickle cell patients from across the globe, music from a sickle cell patient involved in Purple Songs Can Fly, educational booths from various sickle cell-related organizations and comments from members of the Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center.

View photos from the event below.

“Sickle cell disease is a condition that affects a large number of people worldwide,” said Dr. Donald Mahoney Jr., director of Texas Children’s Hematology Center. “It can affect every organ in the body and can cause serious complications if not treated.”

Texas Children’s has been at the forefront of the fight against sickle cell disease for decades, screening newborns for the disease since the 1950s. In 2001, Texas Children’s combined efforts and created Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center, which offers comprehensive family-centered care for children with this complex blood disorder.

The program’s individualized course of treatment includes patient care, education, psychosocial support services, screening and counseling for children and their families. Serving more than 1,100 children each year, Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center is one of the largest in Texas, offering the latest treatments including hydroxyurea, transfusions and stem cell transplantation.

“We are really fortunate here at Texas Children’s to be able to provide such dedicated care,” said Dr. Amber Yates, co-director of Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center. “We have a large team and all we do is focus on children with sickle cell disease.”

The team also focuses on research and combatting sickle cell disease overseas in Africa where many more people suffer from the disease and screening and treatment are limited.

“We are one of the main centers of clinical research in sickle cell disease,” said Dr. Alex George, co-director of Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center. “We have a strong research infrastructure and we have a well-organized clinical and research basis, which makes us an attractive research partner both for industry, pharmaceutical companies and for other institutions.”

Researchers collaborate with colleagues at other research institutions on different projects involving possible new medications for patients with sickle cell disease. Such research, George said, is key to treating and curing these patients.

The program’s global efforts began in 2011 in Angola where Texas Children’s physicians started screening and treating babies with sickle cell. To date, close to 200,000 babies have been screened with about one in 65 having sickle cell disease disease. Texas Children’s is also in Malawi, Uganda, Botswana and other areas of Sub-Saharan Africa screening and treating children with sickle cell disease, and training local physicians to do the same.

“Our hope is that there will be a day when the place where a child is born does not determine whether or not they survive this disease,” said Dr. Gladstone Airewele, director of Texas Children’s Global Hematology Program.

Click here to read a blog by Jamilah Cummings, the mother of Joshua, a patient sickle cell disease at Texas Children’s Hospital. To learn more about Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Center click here.

Click here to watch ABC-13’s segment about Yates’ patient Anaya Sparks. The 7-year-old triplet has sickle cell disease.