Miami Children’s Hospital

Source: Healthcare Digital

Date :11/04/2008 03:33:03

Miami Children’s Hospital is more than a healthcare institution, it’s a world leader in pediatric care. Come rain, shine or hurricane the doors are open

Written by Ben O’Hanlon and Produced by Shaheen Mohammadipour

Founded in 1950, Miami Children’s Hospital (MCH) is one of only two licensed specialty hospitals for children in the state of Florida. Each of its 2,700 staff and 650 physicians is completely dedicated to pediatric care to children of all ages, from fetus through adolescence. A 289-bed facility, MCH is also one of the largest pediatric teaching hospitals in the Southeast, helping it to offer some of the most advanced and innovative care procedures in the world.

“We’ve got a major collection of capabilities,” says Kevin Hammeran, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at MCH. “We’re here for the children and we never close. We offer the best of intensive care services, but we’re also committed to preventive care. We’re the hospital of first choice and last resort.”

Kevin has spent over 25 years in the field, including four in his current position at Miami Children’s. Having worked at four other children’s hospitals, he’s responsible for all internal operations. These are split between a main campus and four off-site locations.

The organization also has a strategic partnership with Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando, FL. The Miami Children’s Hospital Congenital Heart Institute, which boasts one of the world’s best outcomes, offers the same high quality cardiac care in two separate locations. The Congenital Heart Institute’s fetal medicine program identifies heart defects while babies are still in the womb, giving them the best cardiac treatment opportunities upon birth.

Distinguished Care

“It’s a very powerful partnership,” says Kevin. “At the start we were flying physicians up to Orlando daily until we could fill the positions and establish a program that mirrors the service offering/team approach established in Miami. Now it’s one of the premier institutes of its type in the country.”

MCH also performs cardiac valve replacements in the cardiac cath lab. Currently, the hospital is one of three sites in the United States to participate in a feasibility study to evaluate the use of the Medtronic Melody™ Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve and Ensemble™ Transcatheter Delivery System to treat patients requiring pulmonary valve replacement. Kevin says that this authorization was partly due to the hospital’s success in other areas: “We were one of the first pediatric hospitals to be able to patch holes between the chambers in the heart in the cardiac cath lab. We were pioneers in that area with the child usually ready to go home in little more than a day.”

Awards and accolades are numerous: since 2003 MCH has been designated an American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet facility, the nursing profession’s most prestigious institutional honor. In 2007 Miami Children’s was Florida’s only pediatric hospital to be listed among US News and World Report’s ‘America’s Best Children’s Hospitals’. Not really surprising for an organization that houses one of the nation’s largest neurological centers, whose ER is listed among the top 10 children’s ERs in the country and has been listed as one of America’s Top 125 Training institutions three years running.

Innovative Technologies

These successes have been made possible by an innovative approach to technology. MCH was amongst the early batch of healthcare institutions to automate its documentation system. All nursing notes, flow sheets and other such information have been available online for over a decade.

The hospital has also implemented a Picture Archiving and Communications (PACS) system, which stores images electronically. X-rays of fractures, for example, are now viewed on screen rather than on film, the traditional method. PACS then archives images, creating individual patient records that can be invaluable for treatment. Using PACS, specialists can monitor the progression of treatment on a tumor’s size over time to decide the optimal time for surgical or other interventions.

“It’s a major step forward in the ability to reach a diagnosis,” explains Kevin. “Physicians can now access information online from anywhere in the world whether it’s at their office, their home, from a conference, or from another hospital site. Our next goal is to integrate all our advanced systems into a common clinical platform.”

Working for Children

But even in the wealth of technology and communications systems, MCH refuses to lose sight of its customers. The hospital’s website allows family and friends to send an e-card with a personal ‘get well soon’ message – printed and hand delivered daily. This links back to an understanding that children’s care is very different from adult care. At MCH there’s recognition that even simple procedures, such as a 20-minute CT scan, can be traumatic for children.

This has led the hospital to invest heavily in its clinical processes and, more generally, in developing the knowledge base of staff. “We’re lucky to have a world-class group of clinicians and renowned medical staff,” says Kevin. “Nurses make conscious decisions about where to practice. Very few places have the unique setting and characteristics that we do. If you want a career in a pediatric discipline, then this is the place to come.”

It’s perhaps this dedication which attracts the attention of parents from around the globe. MCH serves thousands of international patients each year, enough even to warrant an International Patient Services Department. Kevin says the hospital embraces this demand: “We serve children from all over the world with virtually any diagnosis or condition. These are our children – no matter their place of origin.”

No Challenge Too Great

This ‘open door’ policy is reflected in a commitment to operate day or night, come rain or shine. Before hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, the storm crossed right over Miami causing widespread damage to the South Florida Community. Not only did the hospital remain open, but it used its helicopter to transfer children from battered facilities in New Orleans.

In 2003, in an effort to safeguard its patients, the hospital launched an engineering project to ‘encapsulate’ the building and make it more resistant to natural disasters. This has enabled the facility to improve from being able to withstand a category two hurricane to low-end category five storms. There’s also been a drive to strengthen the systems that will allow operations to continue after a disaster. In the event of power loss, the hospital is able to produce enough energy to be able to sustain itself indefinitely.

Where individual communities have been affected by a storm, mobile health units can be dispatched to provide urgent assistance. Under normal operations these vehicles are used to provide simple health screenings – part of the organization’s drive and commitment to preventive healthcare.

Clearly, MCH is a world-class institution with visionary thinking and an admirable determination to overcome challenges. But perhaps the best testimony comes from Kevin’s perspective as a father: “I’d bring my children here without thinking twice,” he says. “In fact, I wouldn’t take them anywhere else.”