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Welcome from Jeffrey Upperman, MD, FACSWelcome to the first edition of the Office of the Surgeon-in-Chief (OSIC) Newsletter! The OSIC was formed a few months ago with the goal of being able to accomplish more – for our teams and our patients and families we serve. This is your newsletter. We invite everyone under the perioperative umbrella – to contribute. I have recruited physician leadership to the OSIC who are passionate about their areas of interest. Please take note and make sure you reach out to the appointed person if you have an interest in, for example, leadership development or increased block time.
In this newsletter, we are highlighting the great work of our teams in conjunction with the VUMC Pillars of People, Service, Finance, Quality and Innovation. Our newsletter is meant to be helpful and informative. We welcome your feedback.
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COVIDChildren’s Hospital President Meg Rush, MD, MMHC, hosted the January Children’s Hospital Virtual Town Hall to explore your questions surrounding COVID-19 vaccines and to give an overview of the current state of our operations amid the pandemic. Please click here to access the town hall and here from Dr. Rush and her guest panelist, Dr. Kathryn M. Edwards, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Scientific Director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program and the Sarah H. Sell and Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair. Dr. Edwards will discuss the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.
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Division Spotlight: Urology remains in Top 5As we gear up for the 2021-2022 USNWR voting season, we are reminded of the outstanding work by our medical and surgical colleagues. Last year marked the 14th year that Children’s Hospital has made the top pediatric facilty list ranked by USNWR, with Pediatric Urology leading the way as an elite destination program ranked No. 5 in the nation.
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WELLNESS
Got a bad habit? Here's how to train your brain to beat it
"Habits are powerful when they enable you to carry out an action you want to perform quickly. When the action is one you no longer want to do, though, it can be hard to break the habit... Instead, there are several things you must do to change your behavior..."
- Art Markman, Ph.D. of Psychology and author of Smart Change
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Keep on Your RadarU.S. News and World Report Voting Season begins soon! USNWR is projecting the Doximity-hosted survey will be distributed in late February or early March 2021.
Quarterly OSIC Book Club is set for April 20th, 2021 @ 11:00AM via Zoom. This quarter we'll be reading Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Questions? Please email Sarah Mays.
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PEOPLE: New Hires!
Anesthesia Technications: Tyree Benton joined our anesthesia technician team in January.
Cardiac Surgery Team: Alicia Kepley joined the Peds CT surgery team as a new surgery scheduler.
General Surgery Team: Eunice Huang, MD, joined the faculty of pediatric surgery this winter and is an exciting addition to our team. Dr. Huang will be leading the quality efforts within OSIC, as a major focus of her research and clinical interest is improving and standardizing processes to increase effectiveness, efficiency and consistency of care for common pediatric surgical diseases.
GI Team: Kristen Buttrey and Carlton Stafford joined the scheduling team, while Shawn MacLean, Emily Jones and Nicole Topper have joined the nursing team.
HR/PACU Team: Kaitlin Byrom, PCT joined HR/PACU in December.
OR Team: Marie Gerhart joined our operative team as a certified surgical technician in January.
Urology Team: Sarah Layne, GPN, joined the pediatric urology team in December.
PATCH Team: PATCH welcomed Annie Hogan, NP, who has been part of the COVID team efforts.
Radiology Recovery Team: Amanda Elkins, RN joined Radiology Recovery in January.
Sedation Team: Lindsey Waller, RN, has joined the sedation team.
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SERVICE: Block TimeOSIC Leadership is nearing the completion of a new block time policy, whereby service leaders will have recurring block utilization analytics available for review and a formal platform for requesting block changes. The newly formed Block Time Committee will serve as a governing body for block time utilization and distribution. Please direct all block inquires and changes to Dr. John Pope.
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QUALITY: NSQIP The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) represents 141 hospitals submitting pediatric cases. The program uses clinical data and documents outcomes assessed at 30 days after index surgeries of certain CPT codes. Both inpatient and outpatient procedures are included. The data is highly standardized and includes validated data definitions. All data is collected by a trained and certified data collector. The data is used to identify opportunities to improve the quality of care we deliver. Melissa Danko, MD, is leading the report out of NSQIP data to surgical specialty champions. Please email Dr. Danko if you have questions about the data-collection process, or if you would like to learn more about your service's data.
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FINANCE: VolumeThe Children's surgical enterprise is in high gear amidst the pandemic. Thanks to a tireless effort by schedulers, clinic teams, PATCH, and operative staff and providers, total surgical volume is UP 0.7% compared to prior year, though down slightly (144 cases or -1.5%) compared to the Fiscal Year 2021 budget. Compared to the FY2021 budget, On-Campus volume leaders include Plastic Surgery, General Surgery, Interventional Radiology and Neurosurgery. In Murfeesboro, volume leaders compared to FY2021 budget include Urology and Plastic Surgery. Our Murfeeboro surgery location still has block time available! Please click here to request operative time in Murfreesboro!
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(Pictured left is a recent SOCKs team meeting )
INNOVATION
Research: SOCKs is alive and well! Headed up by Jay Wellons, MD, MSPH (Medical Director) and Stephen Gannon (Center Director) the Surgical Outcomes Center for Kids now falls under the purview of the OSIC and continues to serve as a critical engine for our pediatric surgeons of multiple different specialties to dream up, produce, and publish impactful clinical outcomes research... (continue reading)
Education: Downloading the “Clinical Intuition” of the expert practitioner to improve patient care and educating future practitioners.
In an effort to increase the education between services, and therefore improve care of the patient, a multidisciplinary team headed up by Jonathan Schoenecker, MD,PhD, Stephanie Moore-Lotridge, PhD, Isaac Thomsen, MD, MSCI and Frank Harrel, PhD, designed an innovative assessment tool built upon statistical modeling utilized by companies such as Amazon to measure ‘clinical intuition’ as opposed to ‘consumer preference’... (continue reading)
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Hospital Quality Academy
Quality Academy at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is a year-long course designed to teach quality improvement (QI) principles and science among provider, nursing, and administrative leaders through project-focused and didactic learning. Participants envision, create, and lead a team to complete a robust QI project focused on improving one or more of the following: patient outcomes, hospital or department goals, value by reducing waste, efficiency, or USNWR reporting. Each participant will have a mentor who has previously graduated from Quality Academy.
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Awards and RecognitionsPerioperative team members are continuously advancing in their chosen career path. Congratulations to the below listed staff members on their advancement!
Cath/EP: Sarah Murray and Caitlin Schwab received their RN3 this month, and Sarah Murray also receied her CCRN Certification this past Sept. 2020.
OR: Staff members who completed RN3 or CST3 training recently include Mary Boggus, Yasmin Gonzalez and Mel Gordon.
HR/PACU: Staff members who completed pediatric nurse certification recently include John McElroy, Katie Delaney, Jennifer Fly, Allie Walter, Jill McCannon-VanDokkum, Raven Stafford, Makala Gordon, Jessica Kramer and Stevie Crossland. Staff who have advanced to RN3 status include Allie Walter and Beezer Morgan.
Surgery: Jeffrey Upperman, MD, FACS was appointed as the Surgical Infection Society representative to the American College of Surgeon Board of Governors.
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OSIC Book Club - January RecapThank you to everyone who participated in the first Quarterly Book Club hosted by OSIC. Humanocracy, a NYT Bestseller, delved into understanding the bureaucratic norms that plague most companies and spotlighted several successful companies that have turned bureaucracy on its head, and how it was achieved. One of the two authors, Dr. Michele Zanini, participated in the one-hour zoom session and gave thoughtful insight into his research and ways we at Children's Hospital can improve.
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Suggestion BoxThis newsletter is for you! We want to ensure you are updated on relevant information for pediatric surgical services and all things Children's Hospital. Please offer feedback by clicking here if you have suggestions, such as content additions and areas of focus. Your feedback will help us improve.
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