The Pulse

In more than 70 years, Children’s has been fortunate to have some of the finest and most beloved physicians, innovators and pioneers pass through its doors. Some of these individuals hold a special place in the lives of the patients for whom they cared, as well as with their peers. They are thought of as pediatric legends.  Children’s has been recognizing these pediatric legends since 2003.

See the list of past Pediatric Legends

The medical staff has the opportunity to nominate providers into this very special group of Legends. Please consider nominating a potential legend who has:

• Made a significant contribution to pediatric health care in the community
• Served in a leadership role
• Been an innovator, champion or pioneer in medicine or pediatric health care, and/or
• Demonstrated excellence in teaching or research

Nominations will be evaluated by a selection committee, and the results will be announced in the first quarter of 2020.  A dinner honoring the newest Legends will be held later this year.

Click here for the nomination form and send the completed form to Sara Watson, Medical Staff Services, by Jan. 31, 2020.

The breakfast to welcome new physicians and providers is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 24 at 8 a.m. in Children’s Executive Boardroom, Indian Hills East, third floor. Please plan to attend and welcome these new staff members:

Kimberly Chacon, APRN, Anesthesiology, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center

Megan Lihs, APRN-NP, Pediatrics, Children’s Physicians, Council Bluffs

Samuel Pate, MD, Otolaryngology, UNMC

Jeffrey Salomon, MD, Pediatric Critical Care, Children’s Specialty Physicians

Alice Sato, MD, PhD, Pediatric Infectious Disease, Children’s Specialty Physicians

Barry Webber, DDS , Pediatric Dentistry, Walnut Creek Pediatric Dentistry

Ann Anderson Berry, M.D., Ph.D., division chief, Neonatology and interim executive director of the Child Health Research Institute (CHRI), and Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., chancellor of UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, have announced the appointment of Don Coulter, M.D., Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, as the first director of the Pediatric Cancer Research Group (PCRG) at UNMC, effective Jan. 1, 2020.

As director of the PCRG, Dr. Coulter is responsible for enhancing UNMC’s and Children’s environments for research and academic achievement for faculty, students and residents in pediatric cancer research. His primary role is to direct the PCRG and facilitate pediatric cancer research within the group, with Children’s and across all NU system campuses and with external collaborators worldwide.
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The Provider Advisory Council (PAC) had its first meeting of the year, which focused on strategic planning. Members reviewed related articles, received a brief overview of Children’s strategic planning process, and then had a private discussion (no senior administrators were present) with Rowen Zetterman, M.D., regarding the Environmental Assessment. Dr. Zetterman is a former Children’s board member who has extensive strategic planning experience at UNMC, the Veterans Administration and Children’s. The Environmental Assessment is the first phase of strategic planning, whereby the organization seeks to capture the current climate and anticipate future trends from internal and external stakeholders. Other physician groups that will participate include the Medical Executive Committee, division chiefs, Operational Advisory Council, Children’s Physicians leadership and Children’s Specialty Physicians leadership.

All medical staff will be receiving a survey asking them to participate. Dr. Zetterman welcomes the opportunity to meet with additional individuals or groups. Please reach out to Dr. Zetterman or a PAC member for additional information.

PAC Member List

The Duo enrollment period is coming to a close. Starting Feb. 3, faculty and staff must be enrolled in Duo in order to access Children’s portal, Oracle and Outlook from offsite. During the week of Jan. 27-31, the Duo project team will be available in the hospital Atrium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily. Please stop by if you need help enrolling.

If you have access to Children’s intranet, tip sheets are available here. If you have any questions, please email the Help Desk.  

Children’s ECMO team participates in a worldwide database through the ELSO (Extracorporeal Life Support Organization). Membership in ELSO allows Children’s data to be entered into their database and compared against those of 85,000-115,000 patients worldwide. This data provides opportunities for continuous improvement within our program, as well as provide collaboration, research and additional support opportunities.

In 2019, Children’s ECMO outcomes regarding survival off ECMO surpassed the ELSO group average in EVERY category. Children’s program also had fewer days on ECMO than other peer programs. View the outcomes here.

Outcomes like these are one of many reasons Children’s achieved the Gold ELSO Center of Excellence designation in 2017! Congratulations to the ECMO team! If you have any questions about Children’s ECMO program, contact Bridget Norton, M.D., ECMO Medical Director.

Child flu deaths have hit a record high for this time of the year. KMTV recently ran a story on this flu season and the toll it’s taking, featuring Shannon Godsil, M.D., Children’s Physicians, Val Verde.

See the story

Todd A. Savage, Ph.D., NCSP, will present a Lunch & Learn discussion on Friday, Feb. 7 from noon to 1 p.m. in Children’s Glow Auditorium, third floor, on Understanding and Supporting Gender Diverse Children.

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Last fall, Children’s Epic system was upgraded, which impacted end users in all areas of the organization. Please take this five-question survey to help us measure the change management for the upgrade.

Take the survey

Based on feedback, in-person Town Hall meetings are returning to Children’s in 2020. These face-to-face quarterly sessions are a great way to hear from Children’s senior executives regarding the organization’s strategic initiatives and stay up-to-date on what’s happening throughout the organization. In addition, it gives employees the opportunity to submit questions they would like to be addressed during the sessions.

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