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Ghana 2012: Big mission requires months of planning

It takes a lot of work to schedule patients, obtain supplies and arrange the staff to run three operating rooms for a week. It takes even more work when the operating rooms are located on another continent. So when a team of 34 surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and volunteers assembled in Ghana this weekend to begin a week-long surgical mission

Ghana 2012: Surgeon returns to childhood home

For Leslie Ayensu-Coker, MD, next week’s surgical mission trip to Ghana is more than a chance to help young girls with complex gynecological conditions. It’s an opportunity to bring her skills to her childhood home. Ayensu-Coker is an expert in the surgical repair of congenital reproductive anomalies, reproductive genetics and other conditions affecting young women. She joined Cincinnati Children’s

Ghana 2012: Nurse prepares for first medical mission

Sarah-Ross Tolin, RN, is about to fly off for the experience of a lifetime. She’s one of a dozen registered nurses and registered certified nurse anesthetists joining a surgical mission led by the Colorectal Center at Cincinnati Children’s to the West African nation of Ghana. The team includes 34 surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and other volunteers who will spend

Health Care Quality

Patient Safety is Number One

Ask just about anyone at Cincinnati Children’s what is most important and you’re likely to get the same answer – safety! There is nothing that we do that is more important than providing a safe environment for our patients and families. “Too much of a good thing” does not apply to safety in a hospital

Safety and Prevention

Eating disorders: the impact, the signs

Last week marked National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and while we recognize the tardiness of this blog post, we didn’t want to completely miss an excellent opportunity to give due recognition to this group of conditions, the life-altering impact they have on families and the experts that are dedicated to helping people who suffer with

Research and Discoveries

Ridding the world of meningitis

Even in a world of modern antibiotics, meningitis maintains a stubborn foothold. This bacterial infection of membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord continues to kill or permanently disable an alarming number of infants, children and adults. Effective vaccination programs against the two most common causes of meningitis mean that today it primarily affects low

Research and Discoveries

Discover the source, prevent the problem: the never ending quest

The news is never short on stories about efforts to make healthcare more effective, more affordable and that endless quest to find new treatments for terrible diseases. Humankind constantly puts together its greatest minds and newest technologies, and then invents even newer technologies, for this cause. Could it be that a thought from our long-distant past

Rare and Complex Conditions

Could Your Child Have Tourette Syndrome?

The following article was written by Jeannette Moninger and published by iVillage. Recently, 12 teenage girls who attend the same upstate New York high school suddenly began experiencing uncontrollable movements and sounds called “tics,” which are common symptoms of Tourette Syndrome. Although experts say these teens most likely are suffering from a psychological disorder — Tourette’s

Safety and Prevention

Digital Life, Childhood and Pediatrics – Apologies to Norman Rockwell

Were he alive today, one might wonder how Norman Rockwell would portray childhood in a world increasingly obsessed with digital media. Maybe Mr. Rockwell’s images would be of kids wearing earplugs hooked to iPods, cell phones in hand, their fingers furiously texting, sitting in front of a computer and playing video games. Not one at

Safety and Prevention

Helping find food security for families in need

New training is helping doctors in the Pediatric Primary Care Center at Cincinnati Children’s diagnose food insecurity in local families. Cuts in the federal WIC program, which provides vouchers for families to help buy infant formula, cereal and other nutrition basics, mean many families coming into the hospital’s two primary care clinics can’t afford to buy

Safety and Prevention

My 7 year old still wets the bed. Should I be concerned?

My 7 year old still wets the bed. Should I be concerned?

Learn why bedwetting at age 7 is a common problem among children and how parents can help fix the problem.

Research and Discoveries

Heavy Metal Back on Radar Screen

Lead never really goes away. The heavy metal doesn’t degrade. So, once a person is exposed and gets lead in their system, it tends to hang around and cause a lot of trouble – sort of like a gift from Hell that just keeps on giving. And that’s if someone doesn’t get a high enough

Research and Discoveries

Research raises important new questions about sports concussions in kids

Sports-related concussions continue to be a frequent topic in the media, and new research from Cincinnati Children’s sheds important new light on concussions involving younger athletes. A study recently published by the journal Pediatrics raises questions about how soon student athletes who suffer concussions should return to the sports they play, or perhaps even to school. Led

Safety and Prevention

Goblins and spiders and super heros, oh my!

It’s the end of October and everyone is buzzing about Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating. It’s such a fun time of year, but as our doctors and experts in the Drug and Poison Information Center remind us, it’s also a time to be diligent as parents and make sure the dangers of Halloween activities are minimized.

Childhood Obesity

Teach Young Athletes the Goldilocks Principle: Not too Much, Not too Little, but Exercise That’s Just Right

When it comes to physical activity in children and adolescents, we often see two extremes. Inactivity is widely known as a contributing factor of obesity, but too much physical activity can be harmful to children as well. According to Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, kids should be active for at least one hour per day

Safety and Prevention

9/11 and Kids: Talk About It!

The explosive impact of the planes, the unfathomable collapse of the towers, panic in the debris-clouded streets, stunned faces, grieving families. The inescapable images of Sept. 11 that overwhelmed us a decade ago will once again dominate the airwaves as we mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Reliving the trauma of that day

Guest post from Jill Sunderland, mom extraordinaire

Our family traveled to Washington DC the last week of July as part of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals Family Advocacy Day to share our story with members of Congress and to advocate for Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) as well as Medicaid. When we were asked to do this, we said yes

Research and Discoveries

Major leaguer’s 22q strikeout pitch visits Cincinnati Children’s

Most people know Ryan Dempster as an all-star pitcher who once played for the Cincinnati Reds and now takes the mound for the Chicago Cubs. Dempster’s real heroics, however, are not found in the blazing speed of his fast ball. Through the Dempster Family Foundation, Dempster and his family devote time, energy and financial resources

Research and Discoveries

A competitive edge for academic biomedical research

Every year hope is put on hold as promising medical research is delayed while scientists struggle to obtain rare resources vital to their work. The resources are patient tissue and blood samples containing cells, plasma, serum, DNA, RNA and other biological components that help form the building blocks of life. They are essential to research

Research and Discoveries

Using flies and fish to unravel the mysteries of human health

The ongoing debate over what constitutes wasteful government spending spurred a recent dinner conversation among friends over the use of federal tax dollars to study reproductive sciences in small fish and insects. The discussion meandered into someone asking what the study of such matters has to do with the well being of people. Talk about

Chronic Care Networks

IBD Collaboration Continues to Gain Traction

One of the exciting things about my role at Cincinnati Children’s is being part of initiatives that are truly changing the way we approach healthcare and improve the quality of life for children and their families. A great example is the work underway on inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, that is having significant impacts on

Research and Discoveries

Genetically altered virus tracks down early tumors

Cincinnati Children’s scientists have genetically re-engineered a herpes virus to track down early stage cancers and prompt tumor cells to secrete a detectable biomarker that reveals their presence. The research, published in the online journal PLoS (Public Library of Science) One, was covered by Scientific American. Timothy Cripe, MD, the cancer physician and research scientist

Health Care Public Policy

Ohio Budget Bill Puts Children’s Hospitals at Risk

Ohio has the best statewide network of children’s hospitals in the country. Thanks to the high quality, cost effective care at six freestanding children’s hospitals across the state — in Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Akron, Toledo and Cleveland — no child in Ohio is more than a two-hour drive from a flagship hospital. Today, however, we

Health Care Quality

Collaboration Advances Preemie Care and Lowers Costs

Not long ago, hospitals worked independently and information about medical advances in patient care was shared only in professional journals or at medical conferences. Today, however, evidence-based collaboration is the name of the quality improvement game that’s advancing child health and reducing its related costs – as proven once again by the Ohio Perinatal Quality

Research and Discoveries

Home safety devices are worth the effort

If you’ve ever wondered exactly how much safer your home would be for small children by using safety devices such as stair gates and cabinet locks, we now have a precise number for you. Seventy percent. About 2,800 U.S. children die each year from preventable injuries in the home, and millions more are treated in

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