The Pediatric Division of Nephrology will be participating in the Improving Renal Outcomes Collaborative Network (IROC). The primary objective of IROC will be to eliminate the survival disparity between children with kidney disease and the general population. Our Pediatric Renal Transplant Program is one of 10 institutions invited to participate in the initial planning and development of the IROC initiative. The initial focus of IROC will be children with a kidney transplant, but in the future we plan to collaborate with the SCOPE dialysis collaborative and relevant research networks to create a Collaborative Chronic Care Network (C3N) that improves care throughout all phases of a patient’s illness including Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD), dialysis and transplant. Upon successful completion of the design and planning phase and pending sufficient ongoing funding, it is anticipated that IROC will officially launch and start enrolling patients by early 2016. A generous donation from the Porter family has funded the participation and personnel effort that makes our involvement possible. The pediatric kidney transplant program is thrilled to participate in this exciting endeavor that has the potential to transform health outcomes and care for children with kidney disease.
-Dan Feig, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Division of Nephrology
-Dan Feig, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.
Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Division of Nephrology
Professor of Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology, Frederick Goldman's, M.D., paper on the correction of a mutation that caused severe combined immune deficiency in one of our patients was recently published in Cell Reports. Additionally, this has gained attention locally and nationally. See the findings covered by NPR, here. 
Dr. Michele Kong, assistant professor of Pediatrics Critical Care, has received a CCTS pilot award for her proposal, "Prospective Clinical Trial of Azithromycin Treatment in RSV-Induced Respiratory Failure in Children." Through the CCTS Multidisciplinary Pilot Program, the CCTS aims to develop the future research workforce by supporting pilot research that addresses scientific questions across the translational spectrum. This may include novel approaches to therapeutics, or strategies that promote innovation and efficiency in participant recruitment. Efforts like these − which reach across Schools, Departments and Centers − are at the heart of the CCTS's mission to advance translational investigation and to apply discovery research to human health. Congratulations to Dr. Kong!For more information about the pilot program, please visit the CCTS Research Commons: http://www.uab.edu/ccts/research-commons/pilot-funding
The National Institutes of Health has awarded the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Clinical and Translational Science $33.59 million over four years to continue the center’s programs advancing translational research. Since its initial funding in 2008 through Alabama’s only Center for Translational Science Award to work toward innovative discoveries for better health, the UAB CCTS has nurtured UAB research, accelerating the process of translating laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, training a new generation of clinical and translational researchers, and engaging communities in clinical research efforts.The CCTS will continue to advance its mission to accelerate the delivery of new drugs, methodologies and practices to patients at UAB and throughout a partner network of 11 institutions in the Southeast.
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Photo by Denise McGillDr. Brad Troxler, our Pediatric Department Champion, presented an ICD-10 Guide for Pediatricians at yesterday’s Grand Rounds.Click here to view this important and timely information.
Children’s of Alabama’s Neurophysiology Lab has been granted American Board of Registration of Electroencephalographic and Evoked Potential Technologist (ABRET) Accreditation-Neurophysiological Intraoperative Monitoring (LAB-NIOM). This honor deems our lab the first pediatric hospital in the world to obtain this accreditation, the 19th hospital in the U.S. and one of just three in the southeast. Now, The Neurophysiology Labs are accredited in EEG, EMU and NIOM – one of few labs in the country to hold all three designations.
Lauren Nassetta, M.D. accepted the UABHS Innovation Award for the Insulin Safety Team’s Quality project on standardizing subcutaneous insulin at the UABHS Board Meeting on Thursday, Aug. 20. She is pictured with her team.
Q: What is CDE anyway?
A: CDE is a process used by hospitals that employ specialists who review clinical documents for gaps in documentation and provide feedback to physicians. It is a method of obtaining complete, accurate and compliant documentation.
Q: Why can’t you just tell me what to write in my note?
A: Just as an attorney cannot “lead” a witness into a statement, CDE nurses cannot lead physicians in their documentation. A physician may be contacted by a CDE RN during rounds or by a query (communication tool in I-Connect used to clarify documentation) in order to clarify documentation.
Q: So…What’s the point?
A: The primary purpose of accurate, specific and complete health record documentation is continuity of patient care. This serves as a means of communication among healthcare providers. It is also used to evaluate the adequacy and appropriateness of quality care, provide clinical data for research and education and support reimbursement, medical necessity, quality of care measures and public reporting of services rendered by a healthcare entity.
A: CDE is a process used by hospitals that employ specialists who review clinical documents for gaps in documentation and provide feedback to physicians. It is a method of obtaining complete, accurate and compliant documentation.
Q: Why can’t you just tell me what to write in my note?
A: Just as an attorney cannot “lead” a witness into a statement, CDE nurses cannot lead physicians in their documentation. A physician may be contacted by a CDE RN during rounds or by a query (communication tool in I-Connect used to clarify documentation) in order to clarify documentation.
Q: So…What’s the point?
A: The primary purpose of accurate, specific and complete health record documentation is continuity of patient care. This serves as a means of communication among healthcare providers. It is also used to evaluate the adequacy and appropriateness of quality care, provide clinical data for research and education and support reimbursement, medical necessity, quality of care measures and public reporting of services rendered by a healthcare entity.
Even after cancer is defeated, it can cast a lifelong shadow. “Cancer survivorship represents a very critical phase,” said Smita Bhatia, M.D., M.P.H., a pediatric oncologist and director of the new Institute for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship in the UAB School of Medicine and associate director for cancer outcomes research at the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We and others have shown in our research studies that our cancer survivors are a vulnerable population,” she said. “When you follow them long-term, you find that they have a very high burden of chronic health conditions.”Often, these health problems can be linked back to cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation and even surgeries, Bhatia said. Because these complications can occur “many years after the completion of treatment,” they are called “late effects.” One example involves a particular class of chemotherapy drug known as anthracyclines. “We use these agents often because they are highly effective in a large variety of cancers,” Bhatia said. But research shows that patients who take these drugs have a high risk of developing congestive heart failure many years later.