Pediatric Notes

Pediatric Notes is a quarterly newsletter highlighting the hospital's newest programs, research breakthroughs and innovative ways of caring for children.

Fall 2013

Safety, standardization improve CVICU CLABSI rates

Standardized practice and new safety measures reduced hospital-wide central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates at Le Bonheur Children’s by 65 percent from 2011 to 2012. The improvements have helped protect children in the hospital’s Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) from central line-associated bloodstream infections for more than one year. Other inpatient units saw additional reductions in infections.

Bissler named Nephrology chief

Pediatric Nephrologist John Bissler, MD, has been appointed the new chief of Pediatric Nephrology at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. He will also serve as director of Le Bonheur’s Tuberous Sclerosis Center of Excellence and a professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). He comes to Memphis from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where he served as the Clark D. West Chair of Nephrology and associate program director for Research and Academic Careers.

Profile: Meet Stephania Cormier, PhD

Asthma researcher Stephania Cormier, PhD, has spent her career studying the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the development and exacerbation of adult airway diseases such as asthma. Through her work at Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Science Center in New Orleans, she hypothesized that infants who contract respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) within a certain period of pulmonary and immunological immaturity are more likely to develop asthma later in life. When she introduced RSV to infant mice and studied their airway function, Cormier was able to pinpoint at what age RSV infection becomes a predictor of asthma. Testing her hypothesis in RSV-infected human cells was the next step. That’s what led Cormier to join the Children’s Foundation Research Institute (CFRI) at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in April.

Pedi-Flite improves outcomes, reduces costs for pediatric diabetic patients

Giving families with diabetic children access o a transport team improves outcomes and efficiency, according to research from Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). The study, “Real-Time Support of Pediatric Diabetes Self-Care by a Transport Team,” was reported online ahead of print in Diabetes Care.

Heart Institute minimizes blood loss, reduces transfusions in surgeries

More than 20 percent of Le Bonheur’s open heart surgeries are now bloodless, meaning no blood or blood products are given during surgery. The Heart Institute has been taking aggressive steps to minimize blood loss during surgery and reduce perioperative blood transfusions over the last 18 months.

Physicians join leadership academy

Four Le Bonheur physicians are inaugural members in a new leadership program designed to give doctors at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare the skills and competency they need to lead in a changing health care environment. The Physician Leadership Academy is a one-year course that includes instruction from the American College of Physician Executives and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville Physician Executive MBA program.

Surgeons remove fibrillary astrocytoma in 14-year-old, preserve language functions

Michael Boyd had a seizure at school. At the Emergency Department radiologists found an abnormal spot, and the MRI confirmed the 14-year-old from Lebanon, Va., had a mass on his left frontal lobe. Michael flew immediately 500 miles across the state to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. Michael underwent a series of diagnostic tests – MRI, functional MRI, tractography, spectroscopy, magnetoencephalography (MEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) — all completed on his first day at Le Bonheur. The wide range of diagnostic tools available at Le Bonheur gave Michael’s surgical team important information.

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