The Bulletin: March 2006

The Bulletin is a monthly newsletter for Children's and community providers.

New Medical Staff

R. Torrence Andrews, MD, Radiology, UW
Lina Kim, DDS, Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic
John Miller, MD, PhD, Neurology, UW
Ashraf Adib Morkos, MD, NW Newborn and Pediatric Services
Tamara Pozos, MD, PhD, Infectious Disease
Michael Richards, BM, FRCA, Anesthesia
Margaret “Peggy” Schlesinger, MD, Rheumatology

Welcome to Lendvay and Thapa

Dr. Thomas Lendvay, Urology Fellow, and Dr. Mahesh Thapa, Radiology Fellow, have accepted faculty positions at Children’s starting July 1.

Lendvay is a graduate of the Temple University School of Medicine and completed his residency in urology at Emory University. His research interests include isolating proteins that will help promote healing in the bladder after complex surgery or trauma.

Thapa is a graduate of the Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California and completed his residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

His area of interest is cardiac and musculoskeletal pediatric radiology. Thapa is also an accomplished photographer.

Molteni Appointed to Airlift Board

Children’s medical director, Dr. Richard Molteni, has been appointed to Airlift Northwest’s Board of Trustees.

Airlift Northwest was created in 1982 by Children’s, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington School of Medicine and Providence Medical Center to provide medical air-transport services for critically ill and injured patients within the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

Sanders Receives Academic Chair

Dr. Jean Sanders has been named holder of the Gerald and Gloria Swanson Family Endowed Chair in Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Research.

Sanders is clinical director of Children’s Bone Marrow Transplantation Service, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and a member of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The endowment was established in 2004 by the Swanson family, who are longtime supporters of Children’s.

Fellows Research Day

The Third Annual Fellows’ Research Day will be held from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on March 31 in the Wright Audtorium and Anna Clise Board Room at Children’s.

Fellows from the UW Department of Pediatrics and Children’s Hospital will present their research.

Join us for oral and poster presentations and a keynote presentation by Gary L. Freed, MD, MPH, who is the Percy and Mary Murphy Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health Delivery, and the director of the Division of General Pediatrics at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.

For more information contact Brooke Freed at (206) 987-2150.

Clinic Wait Times Decreasing

As Children’s prepares to open the Ambulatory Care Building, staff and physicians continue working to reduce clinic wait times.

Despite a record high of 3,200 new appointments in January, the average new appointment wait time across clinics was a record low of 17 days.

Clinics that have made statistically significant improvements in the past few months are Audiology, Endocrinology, Genetics, Neurodevelopmental Medicine and Orthopedics.

In January, these clinics had wait times of two weeks or less: Audiology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Hematology and Oncology, Infectious Disease, Orthopedics, Psychiatry, General Surgery, Transplantation and Urology.

Physician Operator Update

The Physician Operator and telephone standards implemented in June 2004 have been an overwhelming success, according to faculty and community physicians.

Last month, calls from referring physicians requesting a response within 15 minutes were answered within that time frame 82.9 percent of the time. Calls requesting “end of the day” response were returned 98.9 percent of the time.

We encourage you to use the Physician Operator, at (206) 987-7777, or toll free at (877) 985-4637, option 4, to reach Children’s physicians when you need them. Within the next few months, we will begin using the Physician Operator to help Children’s faculty reach referring physicians.

The Community Physician’s Forum and medical staff leadership have supported our effort to smooth communication in both directions. Our operators will work with your office staff to determine your availability.

Please prepare your staff so that when one of our phy-sicians calls about one of your patients, you can be available to take the call.

Ambulatory Care Building Opening

This month Children’s will open a brand-new Ambulatory Care Building (ACB), consolidating nearly all of our specialty outpatient services into one state-of-the-art facility.

This will enhance our efficiency and ability to provide family-centered care. Clinics will be moving into the new building March 8-24, with the exception of Ophthalmology, which will be moving in May.

Lake City Psychiatry will be leaving its Lake City site and moving into the ACB in mid-March. You can view the ACB at the community celebration on Sunday, May 7.

Look for more information in April.

Grand Rounds

View the schedule of upcoming Grand Rounds.

Grand Rounds Online

View online versions of recent Grand Rounds.

On-Call Schedule

The on-call schedule for inpatient services can be found in the secure area of the Medical Staff Web site. It is updated on a daily basis.