171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
843-792-1414
800-424-MUSC
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June 2007
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,
"May we always live in interesting times?" During this year, we have been feeling the pains of growing into a stronger and more vital children's hospital.
Our inpatient and outpatient census has increased, with more admissions coming from the emergency department. A tremendous new surge in population growth
in the north area of Charleston, Berkley and Dorchester Counties continues to expand the number of patients coming to MUSC. As a result, we need a new and
larger children's hospital if we are to serve all children coming to us for service.
[read more]
Feature Story
Children's Hospital puts awareness "in the bag" at national conference
At the Pediatric Academic Societies' Annual Meeting in Toronto last month, attendees lined up at the MUSC Children's Hospital exhibit booth with hopes of getting a colorful beach bag embroidered with the hospital name and logo, and filled with information about the university and the city.
"Well over 1,000 bags were distributed," says David Roof, administrator and director of operations for the department of pediatrics. Along with Mike McGinnis, director of finance and administration, Roof organized and planned the hospital's participation at the national/international event, which draws more than 6,000 attendees focused on academic medicine.
"We saw people walking around Toronto with our bags," says Roof. "Mike became known as 'the bag man.'"
The goal? To make MUSC Children's Hospital a recognized name in pediatric medicine, research and teaching so it can attract the best medical professionals -- now and in the future.
"Our presence at this conference will hopefully foster a deeper and broader awareness, so the educators, specialists and students in attendance from across the US, Canada and beyond will better understand who we are and what we're about," explains Roof. "We want them to know MUSC Children's Hospital is the place to go to partner with a dynamic faculty, in a hospital that's willing to invest in promising careers. It's an important step toward assuring continuity of care."
[read more]
Message From Our Medical Director
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J. Philip Saul, MD
Medical Director
Director, Pediatric Cardiology |
Why clinical research is important to our mission
At first thought, one might assume that the last place to "experiment" with new therapies is with the care of children. However, there are some misconceptions regarding this issue that I would like to address.
When discussing clinical research, we use the term "investigational" rather than "experimental" because the therapies being evaluated have already undergone rigorous testing in animals and adult volunteers before being applied to children. Also, many trials are designed to compare two alternate therapies that do not have any supporting data that determines which therapy works best. Most new surgical techniques have been developed by innovative surgeons but are never formally evaluated against other surgical techniques or medical therapies. Appropriate concerns over the protection of children in research studies, combined with the relatively small number of children compared to adults with a particular condition, have also hampered our ability to objectively compare one therapy against another or against "no therapy" for most conditions in children.
Moving the care of our children to the stage that our evaluations and therapies are based on evidence, rather than intuition, will require that we continue to bring clinical investigations to the pediatric population. Finally, for many serious diseases only the very latest "investigational" therapies offer any hope for long term survival. Therefore, we recognize that the presence of clinical research in the hospital is critical to our primary mission of delivering "state-of-the-art" care to the children and families we serve. We encourage parents and staff to view participation in clinical research as an opportunity to enhance the care of their child and simultaneously advance the frontiers of medical science.
Update From Our Administrator
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John Sanders, MHA
Administrator
MUSC Children's Hospital |
Research and the Children's Hospital
Last fall, Child magazine held a teleconference for hospitals across the country to discuss the 2007 Children's Hospital rankings. During the conference, there were many questions regarding the importance of research for the survey. The editor reminded the group that Child magazine is not a clinical publication - rather, it is a magazine that responds to the needs of the parents who read it. It became very clear that the public associates the connection of high quality care with a facility that participates in research.
Research plays a major role in the way care is provided at MUSC Children's Hospital. With the Charles P. Darby Children's Research Institute being on campus with the hospital, physicians, scientists and other healthcare professionals are able to work closely together to develop new and exciting ways to treat difficult diseases. It allows us to bring the research to the bedside.
Over the last few years, research has increased tremendously at the Children's Hospital. This has allowed us to attract the best physicians and nurses, and ultimately provide better care for our children and families. This component of our program has enabled us to continue to be ranked as one of the best children's hospitals in the country.
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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DCRI shines at international research event
Last month, the Children's Hospital and the Department of Pediatrics were prominent participants at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Annual Meeting in Toronto. This yearly event, which brings together physicians with expertise in all areas of pediatrics, is the largest and most prestigious meeting dedicated to pediatric research and education in the world. It represents a cluster of important organizations, including the Society for Pediatric Research, and the American Pediatric Society which is the oldest medical society in America.
It's the one umbrella that covers the entire children's research family, says Dr. Bernard Maria, executive director of the DCRI. "It's the 'mother ship,' if you will, of children's research," he notes.
With a cutting-edge program that includes basic, translational, clinical and health services research reflective of diverse pediatric academic disciplines, the PAS event is a venue vital to representing and showing-off the important children's research taking place at MUSC.
[read more]
Wal-Mart celebrates 20 years of giving to children's hospitals
On Thursday, May 31, 2007, Wal-Mart celebrated 20 years of supporting Children's Miracle Network (CMN) and local children's hospitals, including MUSC Children's Hospital. To celebrate, Wal-Mart headquarters selected 20 of their top fundraising stores across the United States to help celebrate at the same time on Thursday. Our very own Supercenter Wal-Mart #3367 at Centre Point in North Charleston was selected because they are currently #4 in the country for their CMN fundraising efforts.
During the celebration, announcements were made by North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, Dr. Bernard Maria, Director of the DCRI, and Trish Aker, the Supercenter Wal-Mart Store Manager. Representatives from the North Charleston police and fire departments, Charleston Riverdogs, and the South Carolina Stingrays were all on hand for the celebration.
The real celebrity of this event was Brandon Peek, CMN's Champion Child of 2007, representing South Carolina and MUSC Children's Hospital. Brandon led a $1000 shopping spree for our Child Life Department, donated by Wal-Mart.
[read more]
A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month.
Editor: Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Publisher: Jennifer Cherock (Trio Solutions Inc.)
Feature Writer: Mary Sue Lawrence, Trio Solutions Inc
Contributing Writers:
Lyndon Key,
Bernard Maria,
John Sanders,
Inderjit Singh,
Laura Cousineau
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