Fellowship of Care Following children after life-saving therapies
Dr. Florencia Ricci’s admiration for Dr. Charlene Robertson is clear. “You can’t not learn something from Dr. Robertson,” she emphasizes. Ricci is the recipient of a new two-year Swallow Fellowship in Outcomes Research within the Division of Developmental Pediatrics under the supervision of Robertson and a team of professionals involved in the Western Canadian Complex Pediatric Therapies Follow-up Program (CPTFP). This program assesses children who have undergone new life-saving therapies at the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Children come from across Western Canada for life-saving therapies such as early complex cardiac surgery, solid organ transplantation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Developmental follow-up takes place at six months after their procedures, at 18 to 24 months of age, and again at four to five years of age. The program provides assessment and intervention as needed for the surviving children. It also improves care for future children by analyzing information from acute care to improve outcomes, and by conducting research where there is something new to be learned. The work of Robertson, together with colleagues across the Department of Pediatrics and referral sites, can have a powerful impact on the lives of children and their families. One example involves children who developed late-onset, progressive bilateral permanent hearing loss in a proportion much higher than expected for intensive care graduates.
“This hearing loss, combined with the children’s many other problems was not right – I thought that we just can’t accept this,” she says. Through an extensive investigation, Robertson and colleagues determined a diuretic was the likely cause. Knowing that furosemide must be delivered in a specific way, a multidisciplinary team was formed to change the formulary for how this drug was given at the Stollery. The change made a dramatic difference, as there has been a marked reduction in this disability. And now new residents even don’t know that it was ever a problem; the learners are all taught the new formulary. “And that information goes around the world,” says Ricci. “That is the impact.” The program has been a labour of love for Robertson and nearly 20 years in, after creating it and seeing it develop with growing support from the entire department, she is ready to pass it on to the next generation. It is her intent that Ricci take the reins and continue this work. ~ JC Dr. Charlene Robertson (l) is professor emeritus in the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and co-chair of the Western Canadian Complex Pediatric Therapies Follow-up Program. Dr. Florencia Ricci (r) is the Swallow Fellow in Outcomes Research.
Clinical Care The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta, in partnership with Alberta Health Services (AHS), provides clinical care for children and their families in the Edmonton and surrounding areas in private pediatric practices, regional clinics, community hospitals, the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and the Stollery Children’s Hospital.
30 2014 DEPARTMENT OF PEDIATRICS ANNUAL REPORT
Thanks to the strong relationship with AHS and the child health care community, our department is able to offer an array of specialty medical services, sophisticated diagnostic techniques and specialized surgical procedures not readily available elsewhere.