Friday Facts (March 4, 2022)

March 4, 2022

New To CCPN: Welcome To Our Newest Physicians

Cook Children’s 3D aPPROaCH Lab Is Available For Your Use

Did you know that Cook Children’s has a full functioning 3D Lab inside the medical center and it’s available for use by all physicians?

The 3D Lab was established in 2016 by Steve Muyskens, M.D., through the generosity of the Cook Children’s Health Foundation and individual donors. The initial focus was to facilitate CV surgery in pre-operative planning of complex congenital heart disease. 

Since its inception, the lab has created more than 30 complex cardiac models, greatly enhancing both physician and family understanding. In 2020, Luke Vierkant RT(R)(MR) was hired as the Lead 3D Lab Technician to further grow the 3D Lab’s scope and technological abilities. 

Currently, the 3D lab prints models for Cardiology/CV Surgery, Plastic Surgery and Orthopedic Surgery. Our goal is to improve the care of all patients at Cook Children’s by improving surgical outcomes and education of our staff and by understanding of our patients’ families.

The 3D Lab offers a comprehensive set of 3D services including:

• 3D Printing (Stratasys J750, Formlabs 3B)
  • Rigid or flexible printing in the full Pantone color scale
  • Digital Anatomy Printing (tissue mimicry for presurgical practice)
  • Biocompatible printing (can be sterilized and brought into the surgical field)
• 3D Augmented Reality Viewing
  • Rapid 3D viewing of CT and CMR data (True3D, EchoPixel)
  • Viewing of 3D Models (Occulus Quest 2 and Mimics Viewer)
• 3D Surface Scanning (Artec Spider Scanner)

If you are interested in utilizing the 3D Lab, please personally reach out to Dr. Muyskens or Luke or send an email to 3DLab@cookchildrens.org.

Message from Office of Physician Well-being: A Survey On Leadership And Physician Burnout

As you are hopefully aware, CCPN has initiated efforts to mitigate burnout and promote well-being. It is well known that the majority of burnout is caused by local (clinic level) factors basically in two broad categories:

1. The type and number of tasks a physician is asked to perform (workload).
2. A physician’s interactions with their leadership.

It’s no surprise to doctors that to deal with a problem, we quantify it. Our efforts regarding these issues will require measurement and will, therefore, rely on your participation.

The task issue will be measured later in the year with another Maslach Survey, which many of you took a few years ago. On March 7, we will send you the Mayo Clinic Leader Index Questions as a measurement of your interactions with your medical directors.

This validated instrument will take about five minutes to complete. As with all burnout-related matters, your answers will be kept confidential. It will be available for you to take from March 7-21.

The purpose of the survey is to gauge the extent to which your current leadership situation increases or lessens the likelihood of physicians in your clinic experiencing burnout. It is not meant as a measure of your medical director’s talents but rather a look at how the process of leading your clinic might be improved or, hopefully, emulated and reproduced throughout the system.

 CCPN leadership recognizes they may not have provided medical directors with sufficient training or resources to lead their clinics, especially as this task has become much more complex. The network has nascent efforts to help in that regard. This focus on burnout will look at clinic physicians and how clinic-level processes might change to make your job a bit easier. 

 Sara and I ask that you take the time to complete this short questionnaire. To demonstrably improve the situation for CCPN physicians, we need to know from whence we start and collecting data trumps making guesses.

 If you have questions about this or any burnout-related matter, please reach out to us or any of the physician wellness committee members:

• David Gray, M.D.
• Scott Leddy, M.D.
• Julee Morrow, M.D.
• Larry Reaves, M.D.
• Deborah Schutte, M.D.
• Mary Suzanne Whitworth, M.D.

Thank you,

Sara Garza, M.D. and Kirk Pinto, M.D., MBA

CCPN Office of Physician Well-being

Cook Children’s Continues To Be A Leader In Cholesterol Screening

Thanks to the dedication of our health care professionals, Cook Children’s continues to be among the top in the nation in following the pediatric cholesterol-screening guidelines endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics! 

 Why is cholesterol screening in children important?

1. Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) occurs in approximately 1:200 individuals, including children. 
2. One baby is born with familial hypercholesterolemia every minute.
3. Although symptomatic coronary artery disease is rare in children, elevated blood cholesterol levels are present from birth and surrogate markers of atherosclerosis can easily be demonstrated in youth, creating the opportunity for prevention.
4. Affected children are asymptomatic, usually of normal weight, and have no physical signs of hypercholesterolemia. In men with HeFH under 40 years of age, the relative risk for a nonfatal cardiac event is 100-fold greater than for the general population.
5. In individuals with FH, the risk of a heart attack is >50% by the age of 50 for men and at least 30% in women by the age of 60.
6. Early identification and treatment has been shown to be safe and effective in reducing morbidity and mortality.

Cholesterol Screening Guidelines

Targeted screening in all children >2 years-of-age in whom:

1. 1 or both biologic parents are known to have hypercholesterolemia or are receiving lipid-lowering medications; or
2. Who had a family history of premature cardiovascular disease, i.e. men <55 years of age; women <65 years of age; or
3. Whose family history is unknown (e.g., children who were adopted)

Universal screening of all children 10 years-of-age (range 9-11 years), regardless of health, the presence or absence of CVD risk factors or family history, and, if normal, repeated between 17-21 years of age. Click here for more information from Bright Futures.

For more information, consultations and referrals please contact:

The Cardiovascular Health and Risk Prevention Program

• Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes
  • Second Floor, Dodson Building
  • Fort Worth, Texas 76104-2724
  • Phone: (682) 885-7960

Why should YOU have YOUR cholesterol tested?

• In the U.S. and most civilized countries, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death.
• The first warning sign of coronary heart disease is often an unexpected heart attack or sudden cardiac death.
• Safe, effective and inexpensive treatment is available.
• A simple blood test could save your life!

Update to Epic Ordering Beginning Next Week

The order source “per protocol- no co-signature required” will be removed effective March 9. The reason for this is “per protocol- no co-signature required” is being selected when there is not a protocol in place. With this update, we will no longer be requiring medication orders for NS flushes and NS nebs. These products do not legally require a medication order and removing them from the MAR will prevent providers from having to co-sign this large volume of orders. Both products will remain in Epic as medications just in case a provider wants to schedule them on a patient’s MAR.

A New Resource On Dietary Supplements and Natural Ingredients Information

Schwarz Health Sciences Library has acquired Natural Medicines, an authoritative resource on dietary supplements, natural medicines, and complementary alternative and integrative therapies produced by the Therapeutic Research Center (TRC).

Natural Medicines provides information on 90,000-plus commercial dietary supplements and natural ingredients, including product data and the evidence-based NMBER® rating system. Other key features include drug-supplement interaction data, comparative effectiveness charts and patient handouts.

Major databases include:

• Food, Herbs & Supplements
• Health & Wellness
• Sports Medicine
• Comparative Effectiveness
• Manufacturers
• Commercial Products
• Fixed Herbal Combinations

Additional tools include an interaction checker, nutrient depletion, effectiveness checker, pregnancy and lactation checker, and more.

To access visit the Schwarz Health Sciences Library website. 

Cook Children's Pediatrics Allen Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Cook Children’s Pediatrics Allen and the office of Dr. Todd Johnson held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 3, with the Allen Fairview Chamber of Commerce. 

Respiratory Outpatient Clinic (ROC) Closing

The Respiratory Outpatient Clinic (ROC) is closing from March 4 until the fall.

Quick Links: 

• Cookchildrens.org
• Checkup Newsroom

Our Promise

Knowing that every child's life is sacred, it is the Promise of Cook Children's to improve the health of every child through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury.