Patient Care
• Structured board and bedside rounds consisting of multi-disciplinary team participation
• Complex care coordinator ensuring smooth transitions during hospital course and beyond discharge
• Journey tool that outlines goals to meet before discharge
• PCCU fellowship program designed to improve the education and orientation of new employees to pediatric cardiac specific care
Quality Measures
• 2016 Unit Mortality Rate: 2.2%
• Consistently in the top two of quality metrics in Pediatrics (central line infection, urinary catheter infection, patient satisfaction, hand hygiene)
• Revised of Chylothorax Protocol based upon institutional experience and updated evidence
• Participant in the expanded NPC-QIC collaborative
Staff Advancement
• Cardiac Educator develops educational material and addresses quality metrics
• Addition of trained formula technicians
• Four nursing staff managers attended national conferences fully funded by University Health System
• Poster presentation at the Children’s Hospital Association of Texas conference regarding cardiac focused education and advancement process
Academic Contribution
• Augusta University Medical Center invited members of the Heart Center to present the PCCU model of Interpersonal Communication during Bedside Rounds at the 2016 Annual Nursing Summit
• Sternal wound study focused on improving antibiotic stewardship and decreasing sternal wound infection in patients with delayed sternal closure
• Lead institution for multi-center study, “A randomized controlled trial to evaluate growth velocity and clinical outcomes of infants with single ventricle physiology fed an exclusive human milk diet with early nutritional fortification following surgical repair”
Facilities
• Completely renovated and designed the Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Unit to be family friendly — opened Spring 2017
• Family centered
• Four hotel-like rooms available just steps away from child’s room
• Kitchen and laundry area
• Common social area with library Cardiology
• Collaboration between UT Health Maternal-Fetal-Medicine service and Heart Center Pediatric Cardiologist:
• Bi-disciplinary clinic
• Funding granted to develop and implement a multi-disciplinary curriculum to improve antenatal screening and detection of congenital heart disease
• Multi-disciplinary high risk infant clinic
“ They know her heart.”
— Jennie Winkler, commenting on the reassurance that comes with a consistent care team.