“Spine at Risk” Safety Program Receives Prestigious Award from POSNA

Competition is steep to receive a research grant from the Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America (POSNA), including the once-a-year awarded Quality, Safety, and Value Initiative (QSVI) Grant. This grant encourages the creation and implementation of quality and patient safety programming, and applicants must go through a rigorous multiple-tiered review process for the reward.

Seattle Children’s is thrilled that this year’s 2022 QSVI Grant Winner is Dr. Jennifer Bauer, Chief of Spine Surgery at Seattle Children’s hospital. Bauer was award this grant for her innovative work on the Spine at Risk Safety Program, which was done in partnership with co-investigators and Seattle Children’s spine partners Drs. Burt Yaszay, Wally Krengel and Klane White.

The Spine at Risk Program is a unique Seattle Children’s safety program run by a team of orthopedic and neurosurgery spine providers that ensures that all patients undergoing anesthesia will have appropriate precautions taken to make sure their spine and spinal cord remain safe while asleep. The program has helped protect our patients behind the scenes for over ten years at Seattle Children’s.

With this additional funding, Bauer and her team will continue to progress on previously published and internationally recognized research on the Spine at Risk Safety Program to improve its efficiency and enable it to be implemented at any pediatric hospital around the country.