Pediatric Transplant Center

Every year the Pediatric Transplant Center has a team that participates in NSTAR'S Walk for Boston Children's Hospital. Just click on any member of the team listed on this page to sponsor that walker. (Donations are made via a secure web page with your credit card.)

Every penny donated for team Pediatric Transplant Center goes right into our special fund. This fund is used to help patients and families with costs due to transportation, expensive medicines and so on.

Want to walk with us? We'd love to have you!  Please follow these registration instructions to become part of the team.

Challenges and Innovations in Pediatric Transplantation

Faculty and staff from the Pediatric Transplant Center at Boston Children's Hospital hosted clinicians and professionals for a day of presentations and Q&A on the challenges and innovations in pediatric solid organ transplantation.

Pediatric transplantation differs from adult transplantation. The content of this course is applicable to all healthcare professionals who care for or are interested in the care of pediatric patients underoing solid organ transplantation. The 14 speakers covered everything from pre-transplant donor selection to post-transplant care.

Some of the topics that will be discussed:

• Organ donor selection
• Nutrition
• Intensive Care
• Psychosocial management
• The patient experience
• Hand transplant

Posters

Successful Treatment of Recurrent Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome with Eculizumab After Pediatric Kidney Transplantation - Michael JG Somers and Nancy Rodig

Analysis of Deceased Donor Kidney Transplant Outcomes after Desensitization Therapy Using IVIG and Rituximab in Highly HLA Sensitized Pediatric Patients - S Klarman, RN-BC, BSN, CCTC, D Puliyanda, MD, E Kamil, MD, A Vo, PharmD, K Cisneros, RN, & S C Jordan, MD

Mentoring Staff in the Development of Evidence Based Practice (EBP) Projects on a Transplant Unit - Marilyn Moonan, BSN, RN, CPN, CCTN

Improving Patient and Parent Satisfaction on a Pediatric Transplant Unit - Marilyn Moonan, BSN, RN, CPN, CCTN & Deborah Powers, BSN, RN, CPN

Management of Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters (PICC) in Pediatric Heart Failure Patients Receiving Continuous Inotropic Support - Maeve Giangregorio, BSN, RN, CPN, Elizabeth Tong, MSN, RN, CPNP, Sonia Handa, MPH, Kimberlee Gauvreau, ScD, Jean Connor DNSc, RN, CPNP

Transplant Nursing Competency: One Pediatric Transplant Center's Solution - Laura E O'Melia, RN, MSN, CPNP and Marilyn Moonan, RN, BSN, CPN, CCTN

Kidney Transplant Program Receives Award

The Pediatric Transplant Center is honored to announce that The Department of Health and Human Services recently recognized our Kidney Transplant Program as a national leader in its field. The program received a Silver Level Award

based on measurements of the program’s performance in key areas including how quickly patients received a transplant after being placed on the waiting list, post-transplant graft survival rates and patient mortality rates while waiting for an organ to become available.  

Boston Children's Kidney Transplant Program was the only program in New England – adult or pediatric - to be recognized at the Silver Level. Its scores for transplant rate and patient mortality rate while on the waitlist stood out among the other programs. 

For information on this honor, visit our News Room

Improving Medical Adherence in Kids

Kristine McKenna, PhD, psychologist at Boston Children’s Pediatric Transplant Center is currently conducting research as part of a national study to better understand how mobile phone apps could be used to help adolescent transplant patients adapt to life post-transplant.

“We know that adherence is a major issue for teens and young adults which puts them at increased risk for graft [transplant] failure,” she says. "So we’re looking for new ways to help them manage their health, by focusing on technology and tools they’re familiar with.”

The app is still in the development stage, but McKenna foresees an adherence app that changes with the user, based on the users' age, adherence level and where they are in the transplant process.

McKenna and team will continue to work on the beta version of the app over the coming months with plans for continued feedback from Boston Children's adolescent transplant patients prior to it formally being launched.  

For the full story on this exciting new technology, read our blog post on Mckenna's work.