News:


Congratulations
to Our 2008
Quality Award Winners
Three teams were honored with ACH Quality Awards during a February recognition ceremony.

Top honors went to the Improving Patient Throughput Project Team. The team at ACH was part of a collaborative of 18 children’s hospitals (members of CHCA-the Child Health Care Corporation of America). The goals were to increase patient capacity, reduce the number of diverted patients, improve patient flow, and improve family satisfaction with the discharge progress. As a result of the team’s efforts, effective capacity increased, wait-time from Emergency Department to inpatient bed assignment decreased, and patient/parent satisfaction with the discharge process improved from 74 percent to 83 percent.

Two projects received Honorable Mention: an Information Systems Team effort that improved Cerner (clinical information system) Response Time at ACH, and a project from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on reducing the rate of false-positive peripheral blood cultures. The NICU project also received a second place award in the 2008 Race for Results, a national competition sponsored by CHCA.


Save The Date
The Suncoast Pediatric Conference will be held June 11-14th at the Hilton Clearwater Beach. Watch your mail and www.allkids.org/conferences for registration information to take advantage of early registration discounts.

Please Join Us
April 6 is Hockey Night at
All Children’s Specialty Care of Tampa
Join us in a visit and tour of All Children’s Specialty Care of Tampa. Tour our newly expanded and remodeled Hematology-Oncology Clinic, new space for our Pediatric Cardiology Clinic, our Pediatric MRI Unit and more.

The evening will be hosted by the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Vincent Lecavalier, with physicians from hematology-oncology, cardiology, radiology and anesthesiology serving as your co-hosts and guides. The Vinny Lecavalier Foundation supports the Vinny Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at All Children’s Hospital. Along with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with an international flair. Everyone who attends will be registered for a chance to win Lightning merchandise or tickets to a Lightning game.

12220 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33612
813-631-5000
RSVP to Angie at 727-767-2308 or [email protected]

ACH Surgeons Begin Clinical Trial
to Evaluate Xiao Procedure
Last month All Children’s began a clinical research trial of a surgical procedure that holds promise for treating neurogenic bladder children in with spina bifida or spinal cord injuries.

The three-year, blinded, IRB-approved study will involve children with spina bifida or spinal cord injuries. It began in mid-March with eight children who underwent surgery. Seven were spina bifida patients who were already undergoing surgery for spinal cord detethering; half also underwent the “Xiao procedure” that All Children’s physicians are evaluating. The eighth patient, whose bladder dysfunction was a result of surgery during his infancy to remove a spinal cord tumor, had surgery specifically to undergo the Xiao procedure.

The Xiao procedure was developed by Chuan-Guo Xiao, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Urology at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, People’s Republic of China. The Xiao procedure, developed during NIH-funded research in the U.S. and China, has been performed on some 1,500 adults and children in the People’s Republic. Pediatric urologist Yves Homsy, M.D. became interested in the procedure last year after meeting Professor Xiao at an International Children’s Continence Symposium in Hong Kong.

Dr. Homsy and pediatric neurosurgeons Gerald Tuite, M.D. and Luis Rodriguez, M.D., subsequently visited Professor Xiao to review his results and learn the technique. They are working together in the clinical research trial at ACH.

The Xiao procedure involves an intradural re-routing of lumbar to sacral nerves to provide a new pathway for voluntary bladder emptying. After the “skin-CNS-bladder” reinnervation procedure, the bladder and bowels are activated when the patient vigorously scratches a spot on the thigh. Following surgery, neurological healing and nerve regeneration take at least eight months.

If you weren’t able to attend Dr. Xiao’s presentation or read about it in the St. Petersburg Times a few days later, you may view the story at allkids.org/InTheNews. Medical Professionals interested in viewing Dr. Xiao's presentation can request access to the Webcast using the form at allkids.org/DrXiaoRequest.