Texas Children’s committed to providing care excellence
Each year, Texas Children’s has millions of patient encounters, providing caring treatment and hope to families across the state, nation and world.
As a consistent leader in pediatric and women’s health, the organization is committed to providing excellent patient care.
One way Texas Children’s demonstrates this is through the priority it places on leading in nursing.
Since 2003, Texas Children’s has been Magnet-recognized, and every four years the hospital applies for re-designation, which is the highest and most respected recognition provided by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Obtaining and maintaining this prestigious honor is critical to providing the best possible patient care by enhancing the ability to attract and retain top talent, as well as allowing for improved patient outcomes, safety and satisfaction, among other benefits.
“We are thrilled to have again been recognized as a leader in nursing by earning our fourth Magnet designation,” said Mary Jo Andre, chief nursing officer at Texas Children’s. “Our nurses and entire health care team have worked so hard to help us maintain this gold standard of nursing excellence.”
In addition to delivering the highest standards of care, Texas Children’s is always looking for ways to expand access to those in need.
“Our multidisciplinary teams are known for providing highly specialized care,” said Dr. Lara Shekerdemian, chief of critical care at Texas Children’s. “We treat the sickest children, some of whom simply would not have survived just a few years ago. We are reinvesting in core clinical services to provide greater access and even more subspecialty intensive care to the children and families who need us.”
Expansion under way
Building the new Legacy Tower at their Texas Medical Center campus, the hospital is adding 640,000 square feet that will bring together a brand new, family-focused environment, as well as state-of-the-art technology to provide the best available care to the sickest patients and their families.
The Legacy Tower will house new and expanded high-acuity operating rooms, as well as a brand new pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) that will span four floors and open with 84 beds, including a dedicated neuroICU with advanced monitoring, surgical ICU and other subspecialty ICUs.
Legacy Tower also will be the new home of Texas Children’s Heart Center — ranked No. 1 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery. The Heart Center includes an outpatient clinic, 48 cardiovascular ICU beds — including a dedicated heart failure ICU, new state-of-the-art catheterization laboratories with an integrated MRI scanner, as well as four cardiovascular operating rooms and 42 cardiology acute-care beds.
First Austin location
As a way to further expand access to families, the organization recently celebrated the opening of its first location in Austin as a way to build on its commitment of offering the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
“This opening is the first step in a thoughtful plan Texas Children’s has in place to bring pediatric-focused care to Austin in a way that will help us serve the state of Texas even more successfully,” said executive vice president Michelle Riley-Brown, who leads Texas Children’s community and outpatient strategy. “We aspire to collaborate with the many established pediatric providers in the region to help support the growing Austin market, and see our growth in the area as an extension of our mission to ensure women and children have access to exceptional health care close to home.”