Nguyen and his Italian colleagues prepare for robotic surgery.
As the benefits become clear, robotic surgery is getting more popular. Since it’s done laparoscopically, it requires smaller incisions, allowing patients to recover faster and resume normal activity within one to two weeks, as compared with a six- to eight-week recovery time for open surgery.
“This is an obvious upside for patients, but for hospitals too,” says Hiep Nguyen, MD, director of Boston Children’s Hospitals’ Robotic Surgery Research and Training Program. “If a patient leaves the hospital in one day rather than in four, then doctors can help more patients and reduce their wait time for treatment.”
Robotic surgery has not yet been embraced on a global scale. In Europe, for example, doctors have hesitated to practice it in children. But with Nguyen as their mentor, that reluctance may soon change. Full story »
Teens with type 1 diabetes can download their blood glucose data and attend "virtual clinics" from home.
Most adolescents fight for the freedom to manage their own lives, especially when it comes to friends, curfews and hobbies. That excitement conspicuously slips away when they’re faced with managing something less glamorous—like diabetes.
Since diabetes is a chronic illness with potentially serious risks, it requires continuous management. But adolescents aren’t exactly lining up around the block for extra medical visits.
“Some adolescents forget to do things like take insulin or check their blood glucose level, and they could benefit from more frequent check-ins with their diabetes team,” says Erinn Rhodes, MD, MPH, director of the Type 2 Diabetes Program and Inpatient Diabetes Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. “But that’s not easy, especially if time is limited or if transportation is a challenge.”
So Rhodes has designed a study for adolescents 13 to 17 years old, to see if “televisits”—video conferences between teens and their diabetes care providers—can improve their diabetes while encouraging better self-management. Full story »
In just a 24-hour period, patients in the hospital typically see a variety of doctors, nurses, x-ray technicians and other medical professionals, and undergo a plethora of diagnostic tests—without an understanding of how all of it comes together to make them well.
The Diversity and Cultural Competency Council (DCCC) at Boston Children’s Hospital recently conducted a three-year study on patient satisfaction. It found that the main reason patients were sometimes dissatisfied was because they felt unfamiliar with the medical information they were receiving, and had difficulty understanding who was part of their care team and how best to communicate with them. And so the idea of MyPassport was born. Full story »
