The number of opioid-exposed infants who were connected, along with their families, to outside resources upon discharge from the hospital surged in a recent six-month pilot.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is leading a multicenter national study to evaluate the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine for preventing the flu’s most serious side effects — admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), organ failure and death.

Rapid blood culture diagnostics for patients with bacterial bloodstream infections delivered final results in 12 hours versus the two to three days required for conventional testing.

For patients in pediatric intensive care who are at high risk for acute kidney injury (AKI), giving clinicians automated decision support during the electronic order entry process increased the rate of blood testing for AKI by 9%.

The return of the Children’s Hospital helipad, painted with the hospital’s trademark paper dolls, will shorten the transport time for patients by several minutes — essentially eliminating the need to shuttle patients along a 400-yard connector to reach the freestanding, pediatric hospital.

By defining the clinical and genetic factors that predict treatment response, Vanderbilt investigators aim to personalize therapy for a common heart complication in preterm infants.

In his annual State of the Department of Pediatrics address, Steven Webber, MRCP, the department’s chair, detailed the significant growth the department has enjoyed in the past year.