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D CEO: Scottish Rite Wins Texas Hospital Association Award for Reducing Surgical Site Infections

D CEO: Scottish Rite Wins Texas Hospital Association Award for Reducing Surgical Site Infections

by | Mar 23, 2018 | Press Coverage, Research & Innovation

View original story on D CEO’s website here.

Dallas-based Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children won an award from the Texas Hospital Association for an initiative that reduced surgical site infection (SSI) rates among spinal fusion patients by 88 percent in 2016, the hospital said in a news release this week.

Scottish Rite Hospital received THA’s 2017 Bill Aston Award for Quality for its six-step bundled intervention approach. The award goes to a member hospital that has “measurable success in improving quality and patient outcomes through implementation of an evidence-based patient care initiative.”

Scottish Rite Hospital approached the issue in 2016 with a multidisciplinary committee that sought to improve the hospital’s quality and patient safety outcomes.

“Providing world-class orthopedic care is our highest priority,” Matt Chance, senior vice president of operations for Scottish Rite Hospital, said in a statement. “The continued efforts of our Quality Improvement team and the SSI committee to refine our procedures is just another example of how we constantly challenge ourselves to improve outcomes for our patients.”

For the full release, visit here.

Dallas Hospitals Collaborate for Annual Research Conference

Dallas Hospitals Collaborate for Annual Research Conference

by | Dec 1, 2017 | Research & Innovation

Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children is hosting the 2017 Clinical Research Conference: Building Clinical Research. This collaborative one-day meeting brings together research professionals from various institutions around the Dallas area, including Scottish Rite Hospital, Children’s Health, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Various staff from each institution have been invited to give presentations on their area of expertise. The annual conference allows clinicians and researchers to learn from one another on the importance of utilizing research to improve patient care, innovation regarding study design and working through the difficulties of multidisciplinary research studies.  

Scottish Rite Hospital’s Director of Clinical Research Adriana De La Rocha, Ph.D., CCRP and Assistant Administrator of Research Matt Ferguson, recognize the value of providing an educational event for the staff and fellow research professionals in the area. “The annual research conference gives the hospital the opportunity to network and collaborate within the research community,” says De La Rocha. “As an institution, we are honored to work with Children’s Health to host this meeting to bring more education and awareness on the type of clinical research projects we collaborate with our medical staff and learn how we may improve the care we give our patients.” 

This year, Assistant Chief of Staff Emeritus John G. Birch, M.D. is among one of the conference speakers. As a key member to the hospital’s Center for Excellence in Limb Lengthening team, Birch is presenting on the evolution of leg lengthening and reconstruction within the pediatric population and the future of the treatment. 

Scottish Rite Hospital is honored to host such an influential conference to facilitate collaboration between four prestigious institutions. This opportunity allows the hospital to continue its mission of education, research and world-renowned patient care. 

#SRHaccess Facebook LIVE Recap: What is a teaching hospital?

#SRHaccess Facebook LIVE Recap: What is a teaching hospital?

by | Nov 8, 2017 | Research & Innovation

On this week’s Facebook live, Chief of Staff Emeritus Tony Herring, M.D. joined us to discuss what it means to be a teaching hospital and the history of our institution educating the doctors of the future. Below is the recap of the conversation.

Watch this Facebook live. 

What is a teaching hospital?

  • A hospital that teaches and educates students in medicine – including medical students, residents, fellows, nursing students, psychology fellows. As a teaching hospital, Scottish Rite Hospital provides residents and fellows the opportunity to work closely with the staff when treating the patients.
  • Medical students: most of their time is in the classroom – students observe, practice medicine under supervision of the staff to become a doctor.
    • Residency: After graduating from medical school, the individual goes into residency. The residents of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center join our team for six months for their pediatric orthopedic rotation.
    • Fellowship: After completing a residency, an individual is now a doctor. A fellowship provides training in a subspecialty, like pediatric orthopedic surgery.
    • The hospital has several fellowships. The Dorothy & Bryant Edwards Fellowship welcomes five new fellows to train at Scottish Rite Hospital for a year. Fellows work alongside and learn from our world-renowned staff in all areas of pediatric orthopedic surgery.
  • The hospital also has programs for all levels of medical training: nursing students, physical therapy students, psychologists, etc.

Historical timeline of Scottish Rite Hospital being a teaching hospital:

  • Residents from UTSW trained at our hospital since the Department of Orthopaedics started at that institution decades ago.
  • In the early 1980s, Scottish Rite Hospital established a pediatric orthopedic fellowship program to allow orthopedic surgeons to receive specialized training. Since its inception, the fellowship program has grown to be one of the finest programs in the country.
  • The first class of fellows had a total of three – today, the Dorothy & Bryant Edwards Fellowship is offered to five individuals each year.

How does being a teaching hospital impact patient care?

  • The staff surgeon is responsible for everything that happens – controls the operations and care of the child.
  • Decision making – children’s orthopedics is complicated and each case requires an individualized treatment plan.
  • Every Monday night, the medical staff and the trainees gather to discuss the surgical cases scheduled for that week. Residents and fellows can collaborate and work with the staff to determine the best possible treatment plan for each child. This not only teaches the trainees, but also allows our doctors to continue their education.

Research as a key component to training:

  • The hospital is privileged to conduct research through UTSW. The goal of the hospital’s research is to find better ways to manage problems and determine the best possible treatments for the various conditions.
  • Our doctors travel the world to present current research and are changing medical practice on a global scale.
  • Residents and fellows choose the area of research they would like to study. The research work from the trainees enhances their education while also bringing better care to our patients.

“We wrote the book on pediatric orthopedics – literally.” 

  • Our doctors are currently working on the next volume of Tachjian’s Pediatric Orthopaedics: From the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
  • The book is revised and updated every five years.
  • People around the world refer to it as the ‘go-to’ for pediatric orthopedics.
  • Videos of cases and surgeries are made to along with the textbook for people to reference and learn from throughout their education.
  • One of the very few medical textbooks written from one institution.
  • Each time the book must be revised, it continues our doctors’ education when they are rewriting their respective sections. This ultimately brings the best care back to our patients.

Then and now regarding the hospital’s fellowship program:

  • As it was then and is now, the patients always come first.
  • The impact of our doctors is now worldwide. Staff present research and lead educational sessions both nationally and internationally to share how Scottish Rite Hospital cares for children.
  • We have a responsibility to continue researching and teaching medical professionals to bring the best care to children now and into the future.
Improving Care with Patient Reported Outcome Measures

Improving Care with Patient Reported Outcome Measures

by | Nov 1, 2017 | Research & Innovation

The goals for providers at Scottish Rite Hospital are to understand symptoms and concerns, develop the best action plan for treatment and to ensure that treatment is effective. We use standard questionnaires, called patient reported outcome measures (PROM), as tools to help us accomplish these goals. Patients are asked to complete these during or just before clinic visits or procedures. They are asked to complete them on an iPad, tablet or on paper. The completed questionnaires may be used for treatment decisions as well as research. Staff orthopedist Henry Ellis, M.D. says, “PROMs are valuable communication tools that can help improve patient satisfaction, symptom management and enhance the quality of care for our patients.”

Below are common questions patients and their families have about the ’WHAT’, ‘WHY’ and ‘HOW’ in regards to these PROMs.

WHAT

What are patient reported outcome measures (PROMs)?
These are standard questionnaires that have been developed by medical experts and research teams across the country. Patients are asked to respond to these at various points throughout treatment. They help the health care team provide appropriate care based on the patient’s physical abilities, goals and emotions. The answers to these questionnaires, along with other information, can help us determine the effectiveness of the treatment.

WHY

Why do providers ask their patients to complete the PROM before they meet?
It is important to establish a baseline of how a patient is feeling and what they can do so we can easily identify changes over time.

Why do we use PROMs instead of just asking the questions during the appointment?
There are a few reasons questions may be asked in the form of a PROM instead of during the clinical visit. These forms are used at many hospitals outside of Scottish Rite Hospital and have been designed based on the patient’s age. The questions are asked in a very consistent format at all sites so the results can be compared across the larger populations. PROMs are a place for the patient to document their opinions, feelings and function, which are combined with the discussions with your provider to make the best treatment plan for you.

HOW

How do doctors know what questionnaires to use?
For specific conditions, there are series of questions that have been shown in previous research studies to effectively track improvement in the patient’s ability to function in day-to-day activities. A patient with a shoulder problem will be asked to answer different questions than a patient with a knee problem.

Filling out PROMs seems to make a visit take longer. How is Scottish Rite Hospital taking that into consideration?
Scottish Rite Hospital is very excited to be using electronic software designed for use by our patients. Although not all forms are available electronically just yet, teams of clinicians and researchers are working to get questionnaires available in electronic formats to be answered on an IPad or tablet. With the use of electronic systems, some of the PROMs can be combined to remove all duplicate questions. This will reduce the number of questions patients must complete. After a patient enters answers electronically, the software scores and organizes the answers so the results are available to the provider right away. Additionally, the electronic software systems allow us to send follow-up forms to patients electronically, in many cases, eliminating this step in the office.

How do PROMs help our researchers?
For studies that evaluate treatment options or outcomes, changes in symptoms and function can be measured in many ways. We can measure changes in bone length, joint angles or even tissue healing using advanced imaging techniques. The PROM provides a standardized and objective way for the patient to report progress and allows our team to track how our patients are improving over time. This information can improve the health and satisfaction of our patients, help identify the most effective treatments and ensure we are providing the best care we can.

Learn more about research conducted at Scottish Rite Hospital.

A Wise Approach: Frisco Style

A Wise Approach: Frisco Style

by | Nov 1, 2017 | Press Coverage, Research & Innovation

When Dr. Carol Wise looks at the thousands of specimen tubes that reside in the laboratory she oversees at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas, she sees not only vials filled with important DNA samples, but also the patients and families behind them. People who generously and, quite literally, gave of themselves in hopes of helping further advancements in science and medicine that may someday work to cure others. “That tube is a little tube of gold,” says Dr. Wise, 54, who is the hospital’s director of molecular genetics and basic science. “People have heard me say our freezer is Fort Knox, and every time you hold a tube, that is somebody who was kind enough to give us a sample, or somebody who might have been suffering quite a bit.”  

Read the full article here to learn more about Dr. Carol Wise and her groundbreaking research career at Scottish Rite Hospital.