Tag Archive for: accreditation

Children's National simulation team

Children’s National Hospital Simulation Program receives SSH accreditation

Children's National simulation team

In this picture are L-R- Kellee Humphries, Clinical Simulation Technician; Rosalyn Manuel, Simulation Education Specialist; Simmy King, Chief Nursing Informatics and Education Officer; Laura Nicholson, Simulation Education Specialist; Heather Walsh, Simulation Program Manager; Kaitlin Moran, Clinical Simulation Technician; Nina Brown, Simulation Education Specialist.

A peer-reviewed organization of healthcare simulation, known as The Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), accredited the Children’s National Hospital Simulation Program in the areas of Teaching/Education and Systems Integration.

“The accreditation is the culmination of years of hard work and recognition of our best practices in simulation education,” said Heather Walsh, M.S.N., R.N., P.C.N.S.-B.C., C.H.S.E., simulation program manager at Children’s National. “It’s been exciting to see simulation integrated into so many facets of care and processes throughout the organization. It makes our work fun and incredibly rewarding.”

The accreditation recognizes the program’s development and standardization of simulation operations, policies and procedures that guided the educational practices.

In teaching and education, the program provided examples of curriculum development, implementation and evaluation. Adaptive response training (the previous hospital-wide simulation-based training), hospitalist simulations and interprofessional nurse-resident simulations served as exemplars.

“Most of our simulations focus on improving teamwork and communication, safety events that have occurred on a particular unit, proper documentation or introducing new equipment or equipment that is not frequently used,” said Nina Brown, M.S., R.N.C.-O.B., simulation education specialist at Children’s National. “The simulation environment allows learners to practice the skills and communication that would be carried out in the real world.”

Gregory Yurasek, M.D., C.H.S.E., critical care simulation director at Children’s National, mentioned that they offered fellows virtual reality (VR) in pediatric cardiac critical care simulations.

“We piloted scenarios with six attending pediatric cardiac critical care physicians this summer to test the feasibility of VR for educational and practice improvement efforts in this highly specialized clinical environment,” said Dr. Yurasek.

The program uses a multidisciplinary approach that increases the possibilities to save a patient’s life in the real clinical environment.

“We can bring doctors and nurses together to practice assessment, management, escalation, teamwork and safety communication in a safe environment where each discipline can practice safety techniques such as shared mental model, closed-loop communication and peer coaching,” said Laura Nicholson M.S.N., R.N., C.P.N., C.H.S.E.

The collaboration also includes working with nearly every department, inpatient and outpatient, radiology, pharmacy, dialysis and others.

“I am really proud to join the team knowing that my colleagues are so committed to the work,” said Rosalyn Manuel, M.S.N., B.S.N., R.N., simulation education specialist at Children’s National. “I feel inspired by their commitment and want my own work to rise to the high bar that has been set.”

Children's National Hospital

Children’s National laboratory receives CAP accreditation

Children's National Hospital

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Children’s National Hospital has been awarded accreditation by the Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) based on results of a recent on-site inspection conducted by CAP inspectors.

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Children’s National Hospital has been awarded accreditation by the Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) based on results of a recent on-site inspection conducted by CAP inspectors. The inspection team included practicing pathology and laboratory medicine professionals.

The Children’s National laboratory is one of more than 8,000 CAP- accredited facilities worldwide that have been recognized for excellence in laboratory services.

“Receiving this gold standard laboratory accreditation again shows that our team is committed to providing lab services with the highest quality and accuracy,” said Meghan Delaney, D.O., M.P.H., chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Children’s National Hospital.

The U.S. government recognizes the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, started in the early 1960s, as being equal-to or more-stringent-than the government’s own inspection program.

During the CAP accreditation process, which is designed to ensure the highest standard of care for all laboratory patients, inspectors examine the laboratory’s records and the quality control of procedures for the preceding two years. The CAP inspectors also examine laboratory staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety program and record and overall management.

This significant accomplishment further demonstrates the commitment of the pathology and laboratory medicine team to ensuring high-quality patient care at Children’s National Hospital.

Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program staff

The Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program earns national accreditation from the Adult Congenital Heart Association

Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program staff

The Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program (WACH), part of Children’s National, earns accreditation from the Adult Congenital Heart Association for providing high-level, integrated care to patients with congenital heart disease.

Anitha John, M.D., Ph.D., a congenital heart disease (CHD) specialist and the director of the Washington Adult Congenital Heart Program (WACH) at Children’s National Health System, is a master of creating and leading multidisciplinary teams and networks to drive innovative standards to accelerate personalized treatment for adults born with heart conditions.

The Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA), a national organization dedicated to advancing adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) care, announces WACH as one of 19 medical centers in the country – and the first in the Mid-Atlantic region – to earn its accreditation, which signifies a center that provides high-level, comprehensive care.

WACH receives this accreditation by meeting ACHA’s criteria, which includes medical services and personnel requirements, and going through a rigorous accreditation process, both of which were developed over a number of years through a collaboration with doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and ACHD patients.

There are 1.4 million adults in the U.S. living with one of many different types of congenital heart defects, ranging among simple, moderate and complex.

“There are now more adults than children in the U.S. with CHD,” said Mark Roeder, President and CEO of ACHA. “Accreditation will elevate the standard of care and have a positive impact on the futures of those living with this disease. Coordination of care is key, and this accreditation program will make care more streamlined for ACHD patients, improving their quality of life.”

A study published in Circulation examined mortality rates among 70,000 patients living with CHD over a 15-year period, from 1990 to 2005, and saw mortality rates fall with referrals to specialized ACHD care centers.

“This accreditation lets patients and other specialists know what to expect if they visit our center,” says Dr. John. “While the field of congenital heart disease is small enough to personalize, it’s large enough to standardize. I’m grateful to work with a wonderful team to provide this type of high-level care.”

Dr. John has a unique background to elevate standards of ACHD care, while creating tailored prescriptions. She is one of a handful of physicians with subspecialty training in ACHD, which she completed at the Mayo Clinic. Her formal training in internal medicine and general pediatrics, completed at Brown University, fits well with the subspecialty training she received as a pediatric cardiology fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Her research now focuses on clinical outcomes in congenital cardiology and advancing multicenter research efforts in adult congenital cardiology.

From March 2016 to 2018, Dr. John led the Alliance for Adult Research in Congenital Cardiology, the major multicenter research group in the U.S. focused on ACHD research. She’s also working with experts and patient advocates to guide efforts to set up a future ACHD patient registry, which will continue to guide research efforts and educate providers about ACHD care.

To help facilitate collaboration, Dr. John guides quarterly meetings of the Mid-Atlantic ACHD regional group.  Established in 2011 through Children’s National, the group has expanded to include ACHD providers from over 18 programs/practices from across the East Coast. This group provides a forum for patient case discussion and programmatic support. More importantly, the professional collaboration has served to not only improve patient care but also provides support to providers as they continue to care for a growing population of patients. This type of collaboration fosters mutual understanding and sets the stage for a relaxed but collegial environment where questions flow and learning occurs.

To further facilitate education, she created an inaugural patient day at the 7th Annual Adult Congenital Heart Disease in the 21st Century conference this past year, allowing patients to have their own educational summit – while opening the opportunity to providers to stay an extra day to learn about patient-centered care. The conference relies heavily on the participation of the Mid-Atlantic ACHD regional group of providers.

Patients learned as much about 3D heart models, pacemakers and noninvasive surgical techniques as they did about personalized approaches to lifestyle care, from practicing mindfulness to hearing about communication strategies to use with their medical teams and families. A variety of experts, from cardiac surgeons to clinical social workers, led the panels and breakout sessions.

“We’re empowering patients to become an active participant and an engaged member of their medical care team,” adds Dr. John.

ACHA supports WACH’s efforts and spoke at the conference, complementing its mission to serve and support the more than one million adults with CHD, their families and the medical community.

The WACH team includes not only Dr. John, but ACHD cardiologists Seiji Ito, M.D., and Tacy Downing, M.D.; Pranava Sinha, M.D., surgical director; Rachel Steury, R.N.P., advanced practitioner; Nancy Klein, R.N., clinical coordinator; Emily Stein, M.S.W., social worker; Whitney Osborne, M.P.H., clinical research coordinator, and Ruth Phillippi, M.S., program coordinator. The team works together seamlessly to fulfill the program mission of achieving clinical excellence, promoting research and providing education in the care of adults of with CHD.

For more information about WACH or to take advantage of resources for ACHD providers, please contact 202-821-6289 or visit www.ChildrensNational.org/WACH.