The Alex is talk of hospital

At 17, Alex Meliones has a long history with pediatric intensive care units.

For starters, as a premature newborn, she almost died in one. Later, she watched a brother grapple with a brain tumor in one.

Oh, and her father happens to be the head of the new pediatric cardiac ICU at Duke Children's Hospital, a $7 million expansion opening today.

But since most families don't have the Meliones' experience with pediatric intensive care, Alex used some inventive thinking to help.

The result is called, simply, the Alex. Here's how it came about.

Last summer, Alex was shadowing her dad, Dr. Jon Meliones, as part of her exploration of a possible future in medicine.

Sometimes that meant spellbinding patient care. Other times, it involved mind-numbingly dull meetings.

At one meeting, Meliones and other Duke muckety-mucks were looking over the less-than-glowing reviews from parents whose kids had spent time in their ICUs.

In survey after survey, parents said they were frustrated by the lack of clear communication. Doctors were coming and going, but it seemed as if no one was reading off the same page. No one was telling the parents what the daily plan was for their child's care.

"We're so busy saving lives we sometimes forget the human aspect of it," Meliones said. "This is the most frightening, critical moment in these parents' lives."

Alex, listening to the discussion, couldn't help but respond.

"It seemed so easy to fix," she said.

Meliones and the other big shots turned to her, the 17-year-old.

"OK, Alex," Meliones said, "if you've got some big idea, let's hear it."

She showed it instead.

On a piece of scrap paper, Alex sketched a simple design: a baby with big hands and feet -- spaces for the medical professionals to describe four simple goals for the patient for that day. For example: Remove breathing tube.

Meliones thought, "Hey, that's not bad."

From there, the idea evolved.

The final version will be a dry erase board in the shape of a baby -- named Alex because of its creator and because the name works for both boys and girls.

In the hands and booties, caregivers will write daily goals for their young patients. Above the head, parents can write thoughts or questions they might have.

In addition, there will be spots on the white board for all of the attending physicians and specialists to Velcro cards with their names and photos. A sort of who's who, and who-does-what, for parents.

With a $10,000 grant from the Children's Miracle Network, Duke will have an Alex stationed at every child's bed in the new pediatric cardiac ICU.

But Meliones, proud papa, doesn't think it will end there.

This fall, he and Alex had dinner with the head of a children's hospital in Southern California who was most interested in the Alex concept.

Meliones said he and his colleagues will be using a new round of surveys to determine whether the Alex improves communication -- and satisfaction -- among pediatric ICU parents.

In the meantime, the real Alex is concentrating on her last semester at Riverside High School and finishing up applications to college.

She applied to Duke, she said, but "they didn't want me."

Their loss.