After undergoing a tracheostomy, Brenda Gregg shares how her journey strengthened her determination to reach her goals, and how this experience has impacted the way she cares for patients with similar health challenges. Read more
September 24, 2019
September 23, 2019
On September 19, Texas Children’s Nursing Professional Development and the Shared Governance Interdisciplinary Education Council hosted Professional Day at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.
Approximately 572 participants attended the conference across the hospital’s three campuses – 353 at Medical Center Campus, 110 at West Campus and 109 at The Woodlands. The conference is designed to promote the enhancement of quality care and patient outcomes through evidence-based practice in the areas of pediatrics and obstetrics. The full day event included a pre-conference session, 95 podium and poster presentations, exhibitors, food along with nourishments and fun prizes.
“For the second time, the annual conference was open to the public and we had 31 external participants in attendance,” said Amanda Garey, Nursing Professional Development specialist who was integral to the organization of this event. “Traditionally, Professional Day had been primarily a nursing event, but we have expanded the event to include clinical staff from multiple disciplines who play a critical role in quality patient care and outcomes.” The conference attracted 416 nurses, 14 speech, occupational or physical therapists, 24 social workers, 53 respiratory therapists, five registered dietitians, 10 physicians and 62 other inter-professional clinicians. Professional Day brought over 150 podium and poster speakers from across the system and throughout the community to share their expertise.
Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre presented the keynote address which was shared to the community sites via telehealth platform. All of the conference speakers were acknowledged as subject matter experts in their fields and delivered the content based on latest trends and evidence. In total, 33 exhibitors and professional organizations supported this conference, which provides a platform for colleagues to collaborate, network, share knowledge and make professional connections.
The event awarded contact hours for nurses, physicians, social work, respiratory therapy, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and registered dietitians. Amanda Garey and Jill Stonesifer were the event leaders at the Medical Center Campus. Lauren Ivanhoe and Deborah Lee were the event leaders at West Campus and The Woodlands.
If you missed this year’s Professional Day, make sure you keep an eye out for the next save the date.
September 16, 2019
Nurse research scientist Krisanne Graves shares the many opportunities available to our nurses to be at the forefront of nursing research and impact the care they provide to patients and their families. Read more
Houston is both the home of significant chemical processing operations and an identified target for terrorism by Homeland Security. As such, Texas Children’s MUST be prepared to provide decontamination for victims of an accidental or intentional release of chemicals in the Houston area.
During September 30 to October 4, “Decon Week” will be held at Texas Children’s Hospital. The department of Organizational Resilience will host a series of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) approved decontamination trainings for Texas Children’s staff. These will include an 8-hour first receiver training and a 4-hour awareness training at Texas Children’s Medical Center Campus, Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.
The 8-hour training is for staff interested in becoming members of the decontamination or “Decon” team. This team is made up of volunteer staff members who attend the annual training, bi-annual meetings, and also participate in an annual decontamination exercise (to be held the last half of October 2019). Both operational and support members are needed on the team.
The team plays a vital role in protecting the safety and security of patients, visitors, and staff by performing decontamination activities prior to entry into our facilities. Further, the decontamination process helps the victim by limiting exposure to the contaminant on their skin and clothing.
The 4-hour awareness training is meant for Emergency Center and Urgent Care Nursing, and other staff who may encounter a “one off” contamination that occurred at a home, school, or industrial setting. These staff are trained to identify potentially contaminated patients, and direct them outside to our built-in decontamination showers (or outdoor decon area at Urgent Cares) to receive instruction to conduct “self-decon” before entering the facility.
Any staff interested in joining the decontamination team and attending the 8-hour training, or staff interested in the 4-hour awareness training, should contact Emergency Management at ext. 4-1237 or use the link below to sign up for a training and exercise that are convenient to their schedule.
September 10, 2019
Jennifer Werner, a wound ostomy nurse at Texas Children’s, sees roughly 10 patients and their families each day at our Medical Center campus. With 11 years of wound care experience under her belt, Werner assesses, treats and develops care plans for patients with wounds, ostomy and continence conditions.
“I always put myself in my patient’s shoes and share an understanding of their anxieties,” Werner said. “Sharing my experience can help put a family at ease and help build a strong relationship in the process. After all, care for their child’s wounds should be as gentle and compassionate as care for my own.”
Before becoming a wound ostomy nurse, Werner served as a fitness director for the U.S. Navy. But it was her young daughter who inadvertently inspired her to go back to school to pursue a different career path.
“As the mother of a daughter with spina bifida, Amanda has taught me so much about surgical wounds, pressure injuries and ostomy problems, enough to grow a passion for care,” Werner said. “It has been 11 years since I made the career change and I have never looked back. This is truly a rewarding field.”
While every nurse will tend to a wound at some point in their nursing career, certified wound ostomy nurses demonstrate a higher level of knowledge, skill and expertise in this highly specialized field and often act as educators and consultants to staff nurses and other members of the health care team. Understanding the underlying etiology of wounds, this rare breed of nurses play an integral role in the healing process, and their jobs require ongoing training, lots of patience and a great deal of compassion for their patients.
From our three hospital campuses at the Medical Center, West Campus and The Woodlands, to our inpatient and outpatient clinics for pediatric and women’s health, Texas Children’s wound ostomy nurses use evidence-based practices to assess, treat and care for patients with simple to complex wounds. These include wound debridement (a process that removes dead tissue and contaminants), dressing wounds, treating and preventing pressure ulcers, and caring for patients with continence conditions and ostomies, where proper pouching techniques are necessary to improve outcomes.
In addition to providing direct patient care, our wound ostomy nurses educate patients and their families on how to care for wounds at home and how to prevent infection and further injury. Furthermore, the team also collaborates with our multidisciplinary partners on ways to enhance skin care management and prevent pressure ulcers, especially in high acuity areas of the hospital like our intensive care units.
While every patient is different, and the healing process takes time, the satisfaction of seeing a patient’s wound heal, witnessing their ability to self-manage their condition while maintaining their dignity and self-esteem – and realizing that you played a role in this – makes this nursing specialty extremely rewarding.
“In addition to working in collaboration with an amazing hospital staff, knowing that I helped my patients in some small way to improve their quality of life is what makes this job rewarding,” said MaryAnne Lewis, a wound ostomy continence nurse serving Texas Children’s community hospitals and outpatient nursing clinic in The Woodlands. It often takes a village to heal some of these complex wounds, and the incredible synergy at Texas Children’s makes it possible.”
Lewis uses her more than 30 years of wound/ostomy care experience to help ostomy patients overcome the physical and emotional burdens of their medical condition. She created a support group that offers helpful resources for these patients and opportunities to meet other families facing similar challenges.
“The support group is probably the single best thing I’ve been a part of to promote ostomy care in the past 30 years,” Lewis said. “I can apply and recommend specific pouches for patients but only someone with a similar diagnosis or situation can truly understand what the other person is going through.”
At Texas Children’s Hospital, our seven wound care nurses have over a century of combined nursing experience in wound care, ostomy and continence care with varying levels and areas of certifications.
Aaron Mansfield shares how a mobile end-of-treatment bell that he designed and built is helping our cancer patients and their families celebrate this memorable milestone in their cancer journey. Read more
September 4, 2019
Chief Nursing Officer Mary Jo Andre hosted her sixth virtual town hall that spotlighted our recent nursing accomplishments, system updates and our exciting partnership with Employee Health and Wellness that is engaging our nurses around helpful resources to enhance their own health and well-being. Read more