March 11, 2024

Supportive colleague submitted the following Caught You Caring recognition for Staff Nurse Jake Jacobsen.

“Jake demonstrated impeccable communication skills in a very chaotic code and emergent ECMO cannulation on his patient. He was tasked with medication administration and he utilized clear, concise and closed loop communication throughout. His innate attention to detail was evident. He is very clearly a caring individual who takes pride in his work. I have enjoyed seeing him grow from a new graduate RN to a natural leader on the unit. I am eager to see what amazing things he will accomplish as he continues to progress within his role.”

Caught You Caring

There are countless examples of how team members make an impact every day. Through our Caught You Caring recognition program, anyone (patients, families, colleagues, vendors, volunteers or visitors) can provide a kind word about someone who went the extra mile. Even the smallest act of kindness can brighten someone’s day. Click here to submit a recognition for a colleague. The recipient and their leader will receive an email notification. Since its inception in 2015, there have been more than 40,000 recognitions submitted.

January 29, 2024

On January 23, Texas Children’s Hospital launched its most recent major care venture – virtual nursing. The Virtual Care Network will transform the bedside care model, provide on-demand support and offer real-time surveillance.

While virtual nursing has recently grown in popularity among adult hospitals, Texas Children’s is set to be the first major children’s hospital with a robust program. Focused initially on care model redesign, it reimagines typical patient care at the bedside – removing administrative tasks from the bedside nurse and taking family-centered care “beyond the bedside” by offering coordinated, convenient support to patients using technology.

In October, over 60 providers, leaders, parents and care team members assembled to bring the vision for virtual nursing to life. “Innovation is contagious, and nurses are especially primed for it,” said System Chief Nurse Executive Jackie Ward as she opened the kickoff event. “They are critical thinkers who get creative with solutions and look at problems from multiple angles…they are tenacious and caring, constantly assessing situations to improve patient care.”

The NICU is the first department to pilot the virtual nursing care model redesign. This hybrid model adds a virtual nurse to the clinical care team from a remote hub, and through these virtual interactions, parents and caregivers can access supportive resources without interruption of bedside care. Virtual nurses will focus on department orientation following admission, enhanced education, support during the length of stay, and robust discharge readiness planning with intention to expand to different inpatient areas over the next year.

“Protecting our teams from burnout continues to be a top priority…with this redesign of duties, we can work to retain nurses who may have otherwise left the bedside and continue delivering compassionate care to families” shared Ashley Simms, Assistant Vice President, Nursing.

Virtual nursing offers game-changing opportunities around how we cater to our patients, families and nursing teams with evolving needs. The creation of this network highlights all the talents that make us One Amazing Team – problem solving, collaboration, patient advocacy, continuous learning and adaptability.

Stay tuned for more to come from the Virtual Care Network! For more information about the initiative or NICU pilot, please connect with one of our workgroup leaders:

December 11, 2023

System Chief Nurse Executive Dr. Jackie Ward invites you to the final Nursing Town Hall of 2023 on Friday, Dec. 15 from 1-2 p.m. at the Pavilion for Women Conference Center (fourth floor). If you’re unable to attend in person, you can stream the presentation on Microsoft Teams.

During the live event, Jackie and co-presenters will share important system updates and touch on topics like workplace safety, new HR benefits and virtual nursing. You can pre-submit questions for discussion during the event – any unanswered questions will get an email response.

Patient care is our first priority, so don’t worry if you can’t attend or watch the livestream. A recording will be available on-demand on the Voice of Nursing blog after the event.

Add it to your calendar and spread the word! Click here to view the flyer.

October 10, 2023

After climbing Mount Kilamanjaro this summer, L&D nurse Morgan Fischer stopped in Malawi to volunteer at a birthing center and visit one of our area global health centers. Read More

August 21, 2023

Interprofessional health care providers, presenters and exhibitors convened at Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) on Aug. 3, 2023 for Texas Children’s Professional Day Summit. The enterprise-wide event led by Nursing Professional Development (NPD) offered opportunities to enhance knowledge and skill application for health care professionals, thereby improving professional practice and patient outcomes.

This year’s theme was Prioritizing Quality Care & Clinician Wellness. Dr. Angie Rangel, Jill Stonesifer and several NPD team members welcomed conference participants by sharing the purpose of the event and its significance to professional practice. System Chief Nurse Executive Dr. Jackie Ward kicked off the event with opening remarks on the value of interprofessional teamwork, lifelong learning and its impact on clinicians and patients. Keynote speaker Dr. Beth Ulrich followed with a presentation on Creating Health Work Environments to Improve Clinician & Patient Outcomes. Conference participants then broke into sessions focused on Pediatrics, Women’s Health and Professional Practice to discuss current issues and health care trends, as well as exchange ideas and share best practices.

Between sessions, registrants networked, explored featured exhibitors, participated in wellness activities and received door prizes. The event was free for Texas Children’s employees and offered continuing education credits to physicians, nurses, social workers and respiratory therapists. Auditorium presentations were also livestreamed to West Campus, The Woodlands and Austin MoPac for those who could not attend in-person. Click here to see the full agenda.

Participants shared their experiences from the summit:

“The theme echoed at TCH Professional Day Summit was ‘learning never ends.’ It was an amazing curriculum that covered a large variety of topics facing our health care industry today…I really enjoyed learning about strategies and quality initiatives from our peers across the organization. I definitely plan to apply the knowledge learned with our department.”Rachel Gonzales, Assistant Clinical Director (Radiology)

“Every presentation I attended was thought provoking and interactive. All the presenters were engaging, and discussions with colleagues across disciplines and campuses provided fruitful dialogue to make the presentations even more thoughtful. I look forward to attending the next summit!”Brittany Walters, Clinical Nurse Coordinator (International Office)

“Congratulations on a successful conference! I thought it was a wonderful chance as a physician to learn about a wide variety of topics from the nursing perspective. I was impressed with the keynote as well as the final talk on Nursing Ethics from Dr. Nancy Yuill, and was proud to be part of the program myself.”Dr. Daniel Lemke, Emergency Medicine

“The topics were not only relevant, but also extremely informative. I particularly appreciated the sessions surrounding the legalities of nursing licensure and how to protect it. Professional Day Summit is an event I would definitely encourage others to attend for NCPD credits!”Chloe Smith, Staff Nurse (Radiology)

Putting together a successful conference of this scale was possible thanks to the hard work, collaborative planning and ongoing commitment to shared learning from Texas Children’s NPD team: Yaima Aleman, Sonia Alvarado, Jana Broussard, Tori Baker, Jaime Choate, Ronda LeBlanc, Karina Moreno, Tanya Nelson-Hall, Natalie Richards, Jill Stonesifer, Jessica Ramirez, and Gayle Young. The team also extends a special thanks to Education and Professional Development Shared Governance Council partners and volunteers who helped make it happen.

Click here to learn more about this year’s Professional Day Summit, and stay tuned for its return in 2025!

Nurse Lucinda Sosa receives and gives back throughout her Texas Children’s journey. Read more

July 17, 2023

Float pool nurse Kelly Chapin has supported 15 different outpatient clinics at Texas Children’s and says each one is special and professionally rewarding in its own way. Read More