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Dr. Andrew Campbell examines a child

Children’s National physicians provide education at 46th Annual Sickle Cell Disease Association of America Convention

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Dr. Andrew Campbell examines a child

Andrew Campbell, M.D., presented at the conference on the topics of hydroxyurea (HU) and blood transfusions.

More than 600 researchers, physicians, nurses, social workers and individuals living with sickle cell disease (SCD) and sickle cell trait (SCT) gathered in Baltimore for the 46th Annual National Sickle Cell Disease Association of America (SCDAA) Convention in mid-October. Children’s National physicians Andrew Campbell, M.D., director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program, and Deepika Darbari, M.D., were among the speakers at the four-day convention discussing the latest scientific research and clinical information through seminars, panel discussions and symposiums.

Dr. Campbell presented at the conference on the topics of hydroxyurea (HU) and blood transfusions. He spoke to families about the benefits of HU, explaining how it lowers the percentage of sickle cells in the blood and decreases the overall inflammatory process. He stressed the importance of HU as a medication used in the prevention of SCD and emphasized the potential decrease in organ damage and increased overall survival rate of SCD patients. The importance of minor antigen blood group phenotyping was also discussed, as it can decrease the chance of patients rejecting future blood transfusions by developing new red blood cell antibodies.

“The indications for blood transfusions in the acute ‘ill’ setting can be life-saving and improve oxygen delivery and overall clinical outcomes within sickle cell complications, including acute chest syndrome, stroke and splenic sequestration. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of patients will need monthly blood transfusions for primary (i.e. stroke, patients with abnormal brain vessel TCD velocities >200cm/s) and secondary (i.e. patients with a previous stroke, multiple splenic sequestrations, recurrent priapism, recurrent acute chest syndromes) sickle cell complications,” explains Dr. Campbell.

Dr. Darbari, a hematologist at Children’s National, educated medical colleagues on chronic pain in SCD and emphasized the increase in pain from adolescence to adulthood.

“During childhood, pain in SCD is considered a consequence of discrete episodes of vaso-occlusion.  Such vaso-occlusion is a complex process in which abnormally shaped (so-called ‘sickled’) red blood cells episodically obstruct the microcirculation thereby causing distal ischemia and resultant pain. As patients get older, mechanisms such as peripheral neuropathic or centralization may play important roles in transition and maintenance of chronic pain. It is important to consider underlying mechanisms contributing to pain when managing a patient with SCD,” states Dr. Darbari. She referenced her coauthored and published Analgesic, Anesthetic and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations Innovations Opportunities and Networks (ACTTION)-American Pain Society Taxonomy (AAPT) criteria for classifying chronic pain in SCD and how useful this tool can be for physicians in the treatment of patients with SCD.

Both Drs. Campbell and Darbari shared their expertise on different facets of SCD with families and medical professionals alike. Their impactful work is paving the way for future treatments and pain management techniques for treating patients living with SCD and their families.

ASCAT Conference Attendees

Children’s National represented at ASCAT conference in London

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ASCAT Conference Attendees

From left to right: Lisa Thaniel, Ph.D., Brittany Moffitt, Deepika Darbara, M.D., Steven Hardy, Ph.D., Andrew Campbell, M.D., Barbara Speller-Brown, DNP, Stefanie Margulies and Karen Smith-Wong all represented Children’s National at the ASCAT Conference in London.

Deepika Darbari, M.D., Andrew Campbell, M.D., and Steven Hardy, Ph.D., represented Children’s National at the Annual Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia (ASCAT) Conference in London in late October. The theme of this year’s conference was Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia: Bridging the Gap in Care and Research.

Dr. Darbari, a Children’s National hematologist, was the featured Grand Rounds speaker and led a pain management symposium. Dr. Darbari studies complications of sickle cell disease with an emphasis on pain. She conducts clinical and translational studies to better understand sickle cell pain and its management. She addressed the topics of pain mechanisms and phenotypes in sickle cell disease during her symposium.

Dr. Campbell, Director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Program at Children’s National, has served on the steering committee for this annual international conference for the past two years, working alongside colleagues from across the globe to bring together multiple experts who work with children with blood disorders. Dr. Campbell remarks, “I’m pleased to promote and be a part of [this conference] because it’s one of the best sickle cell/thalassemia conferences in the world pushing the field forward with international representation.” He spoke at the conference during Dr. Darbari’s symposium, discussing sickle cell disease pain around the globe.

Dr. Hardy, a pediatric psychologist in the divisions of Blood and Marrow Transplant, Blood Disorders (Hematology) and Oncology and the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s National, also presented at the conference on his abstract “Computerized Working Memory Training Improves Cognition in Youth with Sickle Cell Disease.” His abstract received the Best Oral Abstract Award at the conference and was awarded a 500 pound prize. In his work at Children’s National, Dr. Hardy provides evidence-based psychological assessments and treatments for children with cancer, sickle cell disease and other blood disorders, as well as those patients undergoing bone marrow transplants.

Poster presentations were also given by Barbara Speller Brown, NP, DNP, Lisa Thaniel, MSW, Ph.D., Brittany Moffitt, MSW, and Stefanie Margulies, senior clinical research coordinator, all representing Children’s National at the ASCAT Conference.

Dr.-Jonas.-WSPCHS

Snapshot: The Sixth Scientific Meeting of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery

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Dr.-Jonas.-WSPCHS

Dr. Richard Jonas shows surgical advancements using 3D heart models, which participants could bring back to their host institutions.

On July 22, 2018, more than 700 cardiac specialists met in Orlando, Fla. for the Sixth Scientific Meeting of the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery (WSPCHS 2018).

The five-day conference hosted a mix of specialists, ranging from cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists and cardiac intensivists, to anesthesiologists, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, representing 49 countries and six continents.

To advance the vision of WSPCHS – that every child born with a congenital heart defect should have access to appropriate medical and surgical care – the conference was divided into eight tracks: cardiac surgery, cardiology, anesthesia, critical care, nursing, perfusion, administration and training.

Richard Jonas, M.D., outgoing president of WSPCHS and the division chief of cardiac surgery at Children’s National Health System, provided the outgoing presidential address, delivered the keynote lecture on Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) and guided a surgical skills lab with printed 3-D heart models.

Other speakers from Children’s National include:

  • Gil Wernovsky, M.D., a cardiac critical care specialist, presented on the complex physiology of TGA, as well as long-term consequences in survivors of neonatal heart surgery, including TGA and single ventricle.
  • Mary Donofrio, M.D., a cardiologist and director of the Fetal Heart Program, presented “Prenatal Diagnosis: Improving Accuracy and Planning Delivery for babies with TGA,” “Systemic Venous Abnormalities in the Fetus,” “Intervention for Fetal Lesions Causing High Output Heart Failure” and “Fetal Cardiac Care – Can We Improve Outcomes by Altering the Natural History of Disease?”
  • Gerard Martin, M.D., a cardiologist and medical director of global services, presented “Is the Arterial Switch as Good as We Thought It Would Be?” and “Impact, MAPIT, NCPQIC – How and Why We Should All Embrace Quality Metrics.”
  • Pranava Sinha, M.D., a cardiac surgeon, presented the abstract “Cryopreserved Valved Femoral Vein Homografts for Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Reconstruction in Infants.”

Participants left with knowledge about how to diagnose and treat complex congenital heart disease, and an understanding of the long-term consequences of surgical management into adulthood. In addition, they received training regarding standardized practice models, new strategies in telemedicine and collaborative, multi-institutional research.

“It was an amazing experience for me to bring my expertise to a conference which historically concentrated on surgical and interventional care and long-term follow-up,” says Dr. Donofrio. “The collaboration between the fetal and postnatal care teams including surgeons, interventionalists and intensive care doctors enables new strategies to be developed to care for babies with CHD before birth. Our hope is that by intervening when possible in utero and by planning for specialized care in the delivery room, we can improve outcomes for our most complex patients”.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Florida Board of Nursing, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners National Certification Program, American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion provided continuing medical credits for eligible providers.

“I was so proud to be a member of the Children’s National team at this international conference,” notes Dr. Wernovsky. “We had to the opportunity to share our experience in fetal cardiology, outpatient cardiology, cardiac critical care, cardiac nursing and cardiac surgery with a worldwide audience, including surgical trainees, senior cardiovascular surgeons and the rest of the team members necessary to optimally care for babies and children with complex CHD. In addition, members of the nursing staff shared their research about advancements in the field. It was quite a success – both for our team and for all of the participants.”

Millenial Panel at Population Strategies for Childrens Health Summit

Population health and value based care discussed at the Population Strategies for Children’s Health Summit

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With sponsorship from Cerner Corporation, Children’s National held the first Population Strategies for Children’s Health (PSCH) event on February 19 – 20, 2018 at The Westin City Center in Washington, D.C. Speakers and attendees gathered from around the country to discuss pediatric population health and the transition to value based care.

PSCH opened with an insightful presentation from Ellen-Marie Whelan Ph.D., CRNP, FAAN, chief population health officer at the CMS Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services. Her presentation, “Medicaid Transformation to Value Based Care,” explored an incentivized health care delivery system reform that will result in better care, smarter spending and healthier people.

Sean Gleeson, M.D., M.B.A., president of Partners for Kids at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, spoke about the mechanics of Partners for Kids and the population health strategies they choose to implement. These strategies require an entire enterprise to be engaged and they must be an intentional component of each healthcare organization. Dr. Gleeson put it simply that population health turns healthcare “right side up” by tying financial incentives to positive value outcomes versus upside down when health organizations make more money when kids are sicker.

A presentation from William Feaster, M.D., M.B.A., chief medical information officer at CHOC Children’s Hospital, and Brian Jacobs, M.D., vice president, chief medical information officer and chief information officer at Children’s National Health System, delved into implementing condition-specific pediatric registries. They highlighted that it’s necessary to integrate registries and workflows into the daily work of clinicians and make them actionable to encourage engagement.

Another highlight of the conference was the millennial panel “The Current and Future State of Health Care from a Consumer’s Perspective.” The panel consisted of Janice Bitetti, a physician and mother of a 10-year-old with Type 1 diabetes; Jonathan Morris, a 15-year-old Type 1 Diabetes patient at Children’s National; and moderator Emily Webber, M.D., FAAP, chief medical information officer at Riley Children’s Hospital. Panel participants shared their take on the current state of Type 1 diabetes care, and the way millennials interact with healthcare. Both Jonathan and Janice agreed that the intensive nature of Type 1 diabetes care puts many families who don’t have the time, resources and initiative that they do in a very difficult place.

Other speakers throughout the two day event explored topics including population health strategies to reduce child health disparities, the role of telehealth in population health, care coordination and coaching to health, and technology in population health.

Millenial Panel at Population Strategies for Childrens Health Summit

Brian Jacobs, M.D. introduces the Millennial Panel at the Population Strategies for Children’s Health Summit.

little girl holding a stuffed bear

Population Strategies for Children’s Health Summit

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little girl holding a stuffed bear

Children’s National, with sponsorship from Cerner Corporation, is excited to announce the first Population Strategies for Children’s Health Summit on February 19 – 20, 2018 at The Westin in Washington, D.C. This is the first summit focused exclusively on comprehensive population health management approaches that can help children reach their highest levels of health and potential.

Join us in developing new ideas and best practices that engage millennial healthcare consumers and address challenges pediatric providers face in transitioning to value-based care. You’ll learn how population health management strategies can improve care quality for an entire pediatric population in a way that supports your health system’s bottom line.

Speakers at the summit will focus on topics such as:

  • Health policy
  • Care coordination
  • Physician engagement
  • Registries and risk stratification
  • Telehealth
  • Health disparities
  • Taking on risk

Get a sneak peek of the featured Millennial Panel discussion on February 20:

The current and future state of health care from a consumer’s perspective

Health care is a dynamic, constantly evolving entity. This three-person panel plus moderator takes on the consumer point of view to discuss what is and isn’t working in health care today. The panel consists of a pediatrician and mom of a child with Type 1 diabetes and a 15-year-old Type 1 diabetes patient. They’ll share their experiences and thoughts about how they believe health care will progress in the future.

For more information about the 2018 Population Strategies for Children’s Health Summit, please visit our website.

Darren Klugman and Melissa Jones

Children’s National to host PCICS

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On December 6-8, Children’s National Health System will host the 13th Annual International Meeting of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society (PCICS) in Washington, D.C. Chaired by Darren Klugman, M.D., Medical Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Children’s National, and Melissa B. Jones, CPNP-AC, cardiac critical care nurse practitioner at Children’s National, the conference will center on the care of children with congenital heart disease around the world.

The sessions themselves will focus on a variety of topics, such as:

  • How care delivery models around the world impact management of CHD
  • The impact of medical missions and sustainable program development in low/middle income countries
  • Cutting edge innovation, specifically device and drug development, machine learning technology, and education platforms that are shaping the world of pediatric cardiac critical care around the world
  • Challenging cases, including mechanical support options for the single ventricle patient
  • Team dynamics and the key to team resiliency
Darren Klugman and Melissa Jones

Chaired by Darren Klugman, M.D., Medical Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Children’s National, and Melissa B. Jones, CPNP-AC, cardiac critical care nurse practitioner at Children’s National, the conference will center on the care of children with congenital heart disease around the world.

Several doctors from Children’s National will present at the conference, including Richard Jonas, M.D., Division Chief of Cardiac Surgery and Co-Director or the Children’s National Heart Institute, who will give a talk titled “Two Wrongs Don’t Make One Right: A Good Single V Is Better Than a Bad 2V.” Dr. Jonas has spent his career studying ways to improve the safety of cardiopulmonary bypass, particularly as it relates to neurological development. His current R01 grant focuses on white matter susceptibility to cardiac surgery. Other ongoing projects include investigating the use of near-infrared spectroscopy to guide surgery, examining the permeability of the blood brain barrier during cardiopulmonary bypass using a porcine model, exploring the cellular and molecular level responses to various bypass strategies and developing appropriate bypass management and adjunctive protection.

Also speaking is John Berger III, M.D., Medical Director of Pulmonary Hypertension Program, Interim Medical Director of the Heart Transplant Program and Acting Chief of the Division of Cardiac Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Berger specializes in treating advanced heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and congenital heart disease, and will give a talk titled, “Chicken or Egg: Failing Ventricle or Elevated PVR in the Fontan Patient.”

Ricardo A. Munoz, M.D., incoming Chief of the Division of Cardiac Critical Care Medicine, will give a talk titled, “Program Development From a Distance: The Art and Science of Telemedicine.”

And, Christine Riley, CPNP-AC, a critical care specialist at Children’s National, will be speaking at the Advanced Practice Provider pre-conference review course as well. She will be giving two talks, titled “Obstruction to Systemic Output (Coarc/IAA),” and “Transposition Variations (D-TGA And DORV/Taussig Bing, also L-TGA).”

Children’s National safety experts share strategies

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Rahul Shah

Rahul Shah, M.D., Vice President and Chief Quality and Safety Officer at Children’s National Health System (CNHS), and his team joined pediatric quality and safety leaders from across the country in Orlando, Fla. for the Children’s Hospital Association’s 2017 Quality & Safety in Children’s Health Conference.

Earlier this month, Rahul Shah, M.D., Vice President and Chief Quality and Safety Officer at Children’s National Health System (CNHS), and his team joined pediatric quality and safety leaders from across the country in Orlando, Fla. for the Children’s Hospital Association’s 2017 Quality & Safety in Children’s Health Conference. Dr. Shah shared findings and strategies that have led Children’s National to be a leader in this field, and collaborated with peers to move the needle on pediatric safety in hospitals and improving the quality of care hospitals deliver.

Notable presentations from the Children’s National team included:

  • The Children’s National utilization of a safety culture survey called the Safety Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ), and the crucial role of ensuring leadership alignment in the survey process. Obtaining leadership buy-in and alignment allowed Children’s to accelerate the spread of identified opportunities for improvement within the organization.
  • The importance of an ongoing multi-disciplinary approach to care for psychiatry patients, a patient population that that continues to increase in American pediatric healthcare and requires innovative approaches. Children’s National team members emphasized the importance of training the hospital’s security teams and front-line caregivers in therapeutic interventions to seek optimal outcomes for patients, while respecting the complexity of their diagnoses.
  • How to drive reliability through apparent cause analyses. Kristen Crandall, Director of Patient Safety at Children’s National, shared examples of how to leverage data to effectively drive change in cause analyses. Cause analyses are fundamental tools for implementing improvement. The team highlighted the upcoming launch of a High Reliability Toolkit© developed at CNHS to ensure that action plans created from cause analyses are of adequate depth and sophistication to drive improvements.

Dr. Shah and his team also had the honor of delivering an Impact session on the final day of the conference, in which they discussed the applications of merging patient safety with patient experience. The team also shared the Children’s National approach to safety and service, which includes delivering a unified framework of high reliability through consistent messaging to demonstrate that when safety and service integrate and align, the sum is greater than the parts.