Our Community
Staff spotlight: Meet genetic counselor Beth Rosen Sheidley
In honor of Genetic Counselor Awareness Day, we sat down with Beth Rosen Sheidley, MS, CGC, co-director of the Epilepsy Genetics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, to learn about the field and practice of genetic counseling. What is the role of a genetic counselor? There are about 30 genetic counselors at Boston Children’s across many different departments and ... Read More about Staff spotlight: Meet genetic counselor Beth Rosen Sheidley
Clinical Care
Natural language processing captures new insights on patient safety
Safety monitoring at Boston Children’s Hospital is getting even more thorough, thanks to natural language processing systems. Aided by machine-learning algorithms, these systems are capturing problems that clinicians didn’t explicitly flag through a safety reporting system, but documented in their notes. The net result is further opportunities to improve care. Natural language processing, or NLP, ... Read More about Natural language processing captures new insights on patient safety
Research
Diet trials often amend their outcome measures as they go
Ever wonder why science can’t settle simple diet-related questions? In part it’s because most clinical trials involving diet, even those published in good journals, lack the rigor of most drug trials. They’re often small, of short duration, and unable to rigorously control subjects’ adherence to the test diets. Moreover, a study published today in JAMA ... Read More about Diet trials often amend their outcome measures as they go
Our Community
Kindness rocks: Connecting to each other and to home
“I’m proud of you.” “You’re so strong.” “Keep your sunny side up! “ These are some of the messages painted on rocks in the ninth-floor resource room at Boston Children’s Hospital. The idea to paint rocks started last spring with two “bored mamas,” says Shari Mendler, who runs the resource room for parents and caregivers ... Read More about Kindness rocks: Connecting to each other and to home
Patient Stories
Violet is blossoming five years after Tessier cleft surgery
In October 2014, Violet and her parents traveled from their home in rural Oregon to Boston Children’s Hospital for a life-changing surgery. Violet, who was born with an extremely rare and serious craniofacial anomaly, called a Tessier cleft, needed an operation to close the gap in her facial bones. After nine hours in the surgical ... Read More about Violet is blossoming five years after Tessier cleft surgery
Patient Stories
Kaitlyn begins road to recovery after foot amputation
At just 14 years old, Kaitlyn Vu was asked to accept a drastic, life-altering surgery. In early 2019, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma — a rare type of bone cancer that ultimately led to the amputation of her left foot. Kaitlyn’s ability to meet each challenge of her diagnosis with a combination of grace and perseverance has ... Read More about Kaitlyn begins road to recovery after foot amputation
Patient Stories
Libby’s story: Finding a surgical path to seizure control
Seven years ago, while my husband was visiting his parents in Washington, D.C., I traveled with our 3-year-old daughter, Libby, to Boston Children’s Hospital via ambulance from New Hampshire. Libby had been sick with a bad cold and had been acting unusually, with short episodes of rapid eye movement and stuttered speech. An epilepsy diagnosis ... Read More about Libby’s story: Finding a surgical path to seizure control
Clinical Care
High numbers of youth report using prescription opioids in the past year
A new analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health finds a surprisingly high prevalence of prescription opioid use among youth. As recently as 2015–2016, 21 percent of adolescents and 32 percent of young adults said they had used these drugs in the past year. Nearly 4 percent and 8 percent, ... Read More about High numbers of youth report using prescription opioids in the past year
Clinical Care
Beware probiotics in ICU patients
It’s become common for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), both children and adults, to receive probiotics. Often, they are started at home to counteract diarrhea caused by antibiotics. There is also interest in using probiotics proactively in the ICU. A large multicenter clinical trial in Canada is testing whether probiotics would prevent ventilator-associated ... Read More about Beware probiotics in ICU patients
Research
Boosting host immune defenses to treat tuberculosis
Current treatment regimens for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis, are long, complex, and hard for people to sustain. Moreover, the bacteria often develop drug resistance, and many people harbor multi-drug-resistant strains. In 2018 alone, nearly 1.5 million people died from tuberculosis worldwide. Now, a study in iScience suggests a new approach that ... Read More about Boosting host immune defenses to treat tuberculosis