Employees across the hospital spent countless hours working on a transition to a new healthcare information platform—Epic. The transition, which Children’s completed in March 2023, took more than two years of work by staff across campus. Now in use, Epic allows Children’s to align patient records, billing and workflows throughout our services. This helps us provide better service and care.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Pediatrics at Children’s of Alabama joined a network of children’s hospitals across the country that will coordinate on the response to future pandemics and other disasters. Through a $29 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN) will focus on unique needs and challenges to children during pandemics and disasters, ensuring that health equity is at the forefront of emergency planning.
The Zorro-Flow device, created by Children’s nephrologist David Askenazi, M.D., makes it easier for doctors to collect urine from critically ill female neonates and small infants. Askenazi came up with the idea for the device as a solution to an often-ineffective process. He worked with experts at Children’s and UAB, along with local entrepreneurs and the UAB Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, to design the product and establish Zorro-Flow Inc., which launched in July.
The da Vinci surgical robot arrived at Children’s in December. The surgical robot provides an alternative to laparoscopic surgery, in which instruments are inserted through two or three small incisions. It provides a three-dimensional view with improved depth perception. In addition, the instruments enable much more refined movements—mimicking hands and fingers—and are gentler, which is particularly important when operating on babies, who have very delicate tissue. Overall, robotic surgery is less invasive, less disfiguring and results in quicker recovery than the traditional open technique.
In September, Children’s of Alabama launched a new podcast called the Children’s of Alabama PedsCast. It’s focused on research, innovative programs and advances in pediatric healthcare happening at the hospital and making a significant impact on the lives of patients and families not only in Alabama, but throughout the Southeast. PedsCast is a pediatric subspecialist peer-to-peer podcast that features physicians, surgeons, clinical specialists and other experts in the field of pediatrics.
Children’s unveiled a new specialty car tag in 2022. The tag allows employees and the community the opportunity to show their support daily for the state’s only freestanding pediatric hospital. Proceeds benefit the hospital’s greatest need, supporting Children’s mission to provide the best healthcare to pediatric patients across the Southeast.
The PT/OT team added a new piece to their Robotics and Mobility Program: The Tyromotion MYRO. The device has a touch-sensitive, interactive gaming/activity screen and is used to promote problem-solving, attentiveness, visual exploration, functional movement and coordinator/motor control across a wide spectrum of patient types and applications.