The Bulletin: October 2007

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

Children's Receives Largest Grant in 100-year History

Drs. Andrew Scharenberg and David Rawlings, both of Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute, will lead the new Northwest Genome Engineering Consortium (NGEC), which recently received a five-year $23.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The NGEC brings together 11 different research projects to develop methods for gene repair. It is a partnership between Children’s, the University of Washington School of Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

“With this research we hope to develop new approaches for gene repair and use these methods to improve treatments for genetic diseases of the blood, such as immune deficiencies and sickle cell disease,” says Scharenberg.

For more information, read the press release.

Quarterly Consult: Pediatric Emergencies in the Primary Care Office

Dr. Russ Migita offers suggestions on handling emergencies, including respiratory failure, central nervous system issues, and hypovolemic, anaphylactic, and septic shock in the Quarterly Consult.

Faculty and Referring Physician Surveys

This month, Children’s and referring physicians will receive an invitation to participate in their respective physician surveys. Faculty will receive an e-mail with a link to the survey Web site, and a randomly selected group of referring physicians will receive an invitation by mail to participate online, in writing or by phone.

Children’s is now conducting these surveys each year instead of every two years. Children’s uses this feedback and input from outreach visits and docfeedback@seattlechildrens.org to work more effectively with referring providers and improve service to providers, patients and families.

Examples of improvements that were made based on this feedback include implementing the physician operator phone line, (206) 987-7777, and notifying a patient’s primary care provider by fax within two hours of admission.

Children's Advertises Regional Clinics

Children’s has been running advertisements for its regional clinics in Bellevue, Everett, Federal Way and Olympia in print, on the radio and on buses. The purpose of these ads is to raise awareness of Children’s clinics in families’ neighborhoods. These clinics are often more convenient for families who require specialty care than the main hospital campus. The ads emphasize the need for families to coordinate with their primary care physicians when they desire specialty care.

Improved ED Summaries

On Oct. 16, Children’s Emergency Department (ED) will install FirstNet, a new patient tracking system that will significantly improve the summaries for patients’ ED visits and facilitate communication within the ED.

These comprehensive summaries will include orders, results, treatment during the ED visit, recommendations for follow-up, notification of any releases that were given, and the names of the providers involved in the care of the patient. The summaries will be automatically faxed to patients’ primary care providers, and they will be available to Children’s providers under the “Documents” tab in the Clinical Information System (CIS). Questions can be directed to Dr. Tony Woodward, division chief of Emergency Medicine.

This new ED system is the first of several Information Services improvements to standardize processes, increase patient safety and move toward electronic medical records. On Oct. 15, Children’s will also implement a new system that will streamline surgery scheduling.

Waldhausen Honored

Dr. John Waldhausen, division chief of General/Thoracic Surgery, was recently honored with the annual Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Department of General Surgery. The award recognizes the professional achievements and humanitarian service of a department alumnus. Waldhausen was described by nominees as an outstanding teacher who is committed to the professional development of medical students, residents and fellows. He was also honored for setting an example as a gifted surgeon and advocate for patients and families.

Parent Recognizes Wallace

Congratulations to Dr. Carol Wallace, a rheumatologist at Children’s, for providing outstanding care and support to patients and families. The mother of a patient recently submitted feedback about the empathy Wallace showed in caring for her son. “We had been to many other physicians before we got to Children’s,” she wrote. “Dr. Wallace was the first doctor to actually take the time to listen to my son and take his pain seriously. By listening to my son, believing in him and validating his feelings and pain, Dr. Wallace made him feel like finally someone believed him about how much pain he was in. Dr. Wallace changed my son’s life, both physically and mentally.”

Seattle's Top Doctors

This year, 86 members of Children’s medical staff were recognized as Seattle’s “Top Doctors” in the September 2007 issue of Seattle magazine. The list included both faculty and community providers.

Adolescent Medicine:
Cora Collette Breuner, MD, MPH; Jeffrey Lindenbaum, MD

Allergy & Immunology
Mary Farrington, MD

Alternative Medicine
Anjana Kundu, MD

Anesthesiology
Lynn Martin, MD

Cardiology
Thomas Jones, MD; Mark Lewin, MD

Critical Care
Thomas Brogan, MD

Dermatology
Kim Gittere Abson, MD; Julie Francis, MD; Ulrike Ochs, MD; John Olerud, MD

Ear, Nose and Throat
Felix Chu, MD; Andrew Inglis, Jr., MD; Kathleen Sie, MD; Ernest Weymuller, MD

Eating Disorders
Cora Collette Bruener, MD, MPH

Emergency Medicine
Eileen Klein, MD, MPH; George (Tony) Woodward, MD

Endocrinology
Gad Kletter, MD; Catherine Pihoker, MD

Gastroenterology
Dennis Christie, MD; Richard Kozarek, MD; Michael Saunders, MD; Jane Todaro, MD

Hematology
Dana Matthews, MD

Hospitalist
Jill Allen, MD; Darren Migita, MD

Infectious Diseases
Jane Burns, MD; Zachary Miller, MD

Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Edith Cheng, MD

Medical Genetics
Ian Glass, MD; Kathleen Leppig, MD

Neonatal Medicine
Stephen Chentow, MD; Christine Gleason, MD; J. Craig Jackson, MD

Nephrology
Ruth McDonald, MD; Jordan Symons, MD

Neurology
Sidney Gospe Jr., MD, PhD; Brien Vlcek, MD

Obstetrics
Edith Cheng, MD

Oncology
Ernest “Chappie” Conrad III MD; Doug Hawkins, MD

Ophthalmology
Werner Cadera, MD; Philip Chen, MD; Avery Weiss, MD

Orthopedics
Ernest “Chappie” Conrad III, MD; Kit Song, MD

Pain Management
Corrie Anderson, MD

Pathology
Joe Rutledge, MD

Pediatrics
Jill Allen, MD; Ann Champoux, MD; Fred Kassab, MD; Pamela McDonald, MD; Tracie O’Neill, MD; Kathy Risse, MD; Donna Smith, MD; Robert Telzrow, MD; Sherri Zorn, MD

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Kenneth Jaffe, MD

Plastic Surgery
Daniel Downey, MD; Joseph Gruss, MD; Richard Hopper, MD; Craig Murakami, MD; Keith Paige, MD

Psychiatry
Bryan King, MD

Pulmonary Disease
Ronald Gibson, MD, PhD; Gregory Redding, MD

Radiology
Eric Effman, MD; Dennis Shaw, MD

Radiation Oncology
James Douglas, MD

Rheumatology
Helen Emery, MD; Carol Wallace, MD

Sleep Medicine
Yemi Kifle, MD

Sports Medicine
Steven Anderson, MD

Surgery, Cardiovascular
Gordon Cohen, MD, PhD; Edward Verrier, MD

Surgery, General
Robert Sawin, MD; John Waldhausen, MD

Surgery, Hand
Douglas Hanel, MD; Thomas Trumble, MD

Surgery, Neurological
Richard Ellenbogen, MD

Surgery, Thoracic
Michael Mulligan, MD; John Waldhausen, MD; Douglas Wood, MD

Transplantation
Patrick Healey, MD; Christian Kuhr, MD; Adam Levy, MD; Jorge Reyes, MD

Urology
Mark Burns, MD; Richard Grady, MD

Car Seat Safety Check

A free car seat safety check will be held on Saturday, Oct. 20, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Whale garage at Children’s Hospital. Certified car seat technicians will show parents how to correctly fit and install their child’s car seat or booster seat. Please let families know about this event. For more information, call (206) 987-2548.

New Medical Executive Committee Members

Congratulations to the new medical staff officers and Medical Executive Committee (MEC) members, who assumed their positions on Oct. 1.

Dr. Karen Murray, a Children’s gastroenterologist, begins a two-year term as president. Dr. Matthew Allen, a pediatrician at Ballard Pediatric Clinic, begins a two-year term as medical staff president-elect. Dr. Michael (Mike) Dudas begins a one-year term as medical staff immediate past president. Dr. Anthony (Tony) Avellino begins the second year of his three-year term as elected medical staff advisor.

Other newly elected MEC members include Dr. Donald Shifrin, Dr. Sara Kristi Benda, Dr. Neil Kaneshiro, Dr. David Bowe, Dr. Randall J. Uyeno, Dr. Robert C. Nohle and Dr. Nancy L. Danoff. Thank you to Dr. Ruth Conn, Dr. John Schreuder and Dr. Vinita Seru, who have completed their second terms.

New Medical Staff and Allied Health Professionals

Children’s welcomes these new medical staff members and allied health professionals:

Randall Finley, MD, Radiology, Children’s
Philip Krueger, MD, Orthopedics, Children’s
Michael Leu, MD, Informatics, Children’s
James Mooney, MD, Anesthesiology, Children’s
Randolph Otto, MD, Radiology, Children’s
Shawn Parnell, MD, Radiology, Children’s
Yuko Sano, MD, Anesthesiology, Children’s
Brian Soriano, MD, Cardiology, Children’s
Monica Thakar, MD, Hematology/Oncology, Children’s
Jeffrey Zavaleta, MD, Anesthesiology, Children’s
Patricia Cleary, ARNP, Otolaryngology, Children’s
Lori Markham, ARNP, Neonatology, Children’s
Holly Ginsberg, MD, Pediatric Associates - Totem Lake
Calla Holmgren, MD, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, UW
Keith McDonald, DMD, Dental Medicine, A Kids Place Dentistry for Children
Seth Schwartz, MD, Otolaryngology, Virginia Mason Medical Center
Anne-Marie Amies Oelschlager, MD, UW

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.