171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
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January 2008
This edition:
Letter From Our Chair
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L. Lyndon Key, MD
Professor and Chairman
Department of Pediatrics |
Dear faculty, Children's Hospital staff and other friends,
It dawned on me that we all work very hard. A few days off with family and friends underscore the importance of providing care to our patients. I have always thought that we need to treat every patient as if they were a close relative. The difference between what we want to do and what we do most days boils down to our love and respect for our patients. Unfortunately, we have to be the "enforcer" from time to time.
As I look at the changes in the world over the last 50 years that I can remember, I find that there has been an erosion of a community ethic that once encouraged us to take care of each other. I have a son-in-law in the Navy and a niece in the Air Force. I have a much better understanding of how important their commitment is than before. I saw a slogan that I liked over this season that proclaimed: "America, land of the free, because of the brave." I noted that while we are willing to protect ourselves from foreign enemies; however, we are not committed to helping to stop killing in our cities by eliminating hand guns. We are not been willing to enforce seat belt laws, support ATV bills, or provide for universal health care. We are free because of the brave, but we must be the brave as well and make these tough choices. In addition, we must reach every child and provide the opportunity to get an early educational foundation. Without this foundation, our population will have difficulty competing in the market place.
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Feature Story
CHF events large and small raise money year-round for kids
The MUSC Children's Hospital is one of the top ranked children's hospitals in the country, and the Darby Children's Research Institute stands out as one of just 15 in the US. None of it would have been possible without the community and its big and small contributions, says Barbara Rivers.
As director of development for the hospital, Rivers oversees and helps create and direct all the fundraising events and activities of the Children's Hospital Fund (CHF). For 23 years, the fund has played a major role in the development of programs within the Department of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital.
"The Children's Hospital wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for the community participating in these events, from small to big acts of giving," says Rivers. As well as sponsoring several major events each month, the CHF coordinates a host of smaller benefits and appreciation events, conducts tours for current and future business partners, and hosts awareness activities.
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Message From Our Medical Director
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J. Philip Saul, MD
Medical Director
Director, Pediatric Cardiology |
Looking back on 2007, one thing is certainly clear at MUSC's Children's Hospital - despite the national shortage in so many areas, it was a banner year for recruiting pediatric sub-specialists. Some of our most critical recruits came from the surgical subspecialties. Our success started right at the top when Andre' Hebra, MD, came back to us from All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida to be our Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Surgical Director. Dr. Hebra's expertise in minimally invasive surgery will be fully utilized with the addition of a daVinci surgical robot to our surgical suites. Also, while we're sad to see Dr. Tuite leave, we are delighted to have Steven Glazier, MD, take over our Pediatric Neurosurgery Department. He will also be the division chief for all neurosurgical services and is a world renowned expert in the surgical treatment of epilepsy. With Dr. Glazier's arrival, MUSC will be the only center in South Carolina with an epilepsy surgical program. Our last surgical recruit was in Orthopedic Surgery, when Jennifer Hooker, MD, came from Atlanta to join Drs. Mooney and Gross. I'm happy to report that we've already seen significant increases in orthopedic procedure volume.
On the medical side, we have also filled some critical gaps in areas of national shortages. Ian Kang, MD, has joined Dr. Pillai in Pediatric Gastroenterology, a welcome addition. Michelle Hudspeth, MD, came from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to our Hematology Oncology Division, where she is now running the Bone Marrow Transplant Program, already doing more transplants in the first six months than in all of the prior year. With the division of General Pediatrics assuming care direction in the non-ICU newborn nursery, Bill Randazzo, MD, was recruited out of a private practice in New Jersey to assume leadership of that program. We have a new Chief of Pediatric Neurology, Dr. Stephen Kinsman, and finally, in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, we were very happy to have one of our own trainees, Tony Hlavacek, MD, join us on staff with expertise in non-invasive imaging, including CT and MRI.
Bringing all of these recruits to MUSC required true collaboration between and commitment from a variety of sources, including the individual departments involved, the Department of Pediatrics, the Children's Hospital and MUHA administrations, and the Dean of the College of Medicine. We are delighted not only by this high level of cooperation, but of course having such wonderful new faculty to treat our patients.
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Darby Children's Research Institute News
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Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Inderjit Singh, PhD
Scientific Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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New research could be a start for early diagnosis of congenital birth defects
Dr. Ed Krug expects his research may ultimately lead to a blood test that provides early diagnosis of congenital heart defects.
In his lab in the DCRI, Dr. Krug, of the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, is developing new technology to determine how the valves and septa (internal partitions) of the heart are formed, and under what conditions they might be altered.
"Valvuloseptal defects are a significant problem, occurring in approximately one out of 10,000 live births," says Dr. Krug.
If the heart lacks the correct separation of chambers and proper "plumbing," oxygenated and deoxygenated blood are mixed, resulting in what is commonly called a blue baby.
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Evidence-Based Tip
Urinary Tract Infections in Children
My responsibilities as the EBM librarian for Pediatrics allow me to round once a week with the residents and medical students. My job on rounds is to facilitate EBM in action - helping them to form a good clinical question, to PICO it for clarification, to find the evidence, and to discuss its applicability to the patient. Anywhere from three to eight questions may arise, along with many good, teachable moments.
While on rounds last month, we had a case of a child with a urinary tract infection (UTI) due to urogenital abnormalities. The child was soon to be released from the hospital with a regime of prophylactic anti-infective agents. I turned to the medical students and asked them if other children with no abnormalities but with recurrent UTI should be prescribed prophylactic agents.
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Laura Cousineau, MLS
MUSC Library
Dept. of Pediatrics EBM Faculty |
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A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month.
Editor-in-Chief: Bernard L. Maria, MD/MBA
Editorial Assistant: Jennifer Cherock, Trio Solutions, Inc.
Publishers: Brian Cendrowski and Roxanne Hicks, Trio Solutions, Inc.
Feature Writer: Mary Sue Lawrence
Contributing Writers:
Lyndon Key,
Bernard Maria,
Philip Saul,
Laura Cousineau
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