McDonald named to pediatric surgery leadership role

By Carol McPhail
[email protected]

USA Health has named Tyler C. McDonald, M.D., chief of pediatric orthopaedic surgery, as the medical director of the Children’s Surgery Verification (CSV) program at Children’s & Women’s Hospital.  

In this capacity, McDonald will work with hospital and quality leaders to optimize the delivery of pediatric surgical care, with the goal of meeting national standards for verification set forth by the American College of Surgeons (ACS). He will continue his clinical practice as chief of pediatric orthopaedic surgery in addition to the new role. 

“Dr. McDonald’s leadership will help us bring together every team involved in pediatric surgery, from nurses to anesthesiologists to support staff, so that families receive seamless, world-class care at the hospital,” said Deborah Browning, MSN, RN, CENP, chief executive officer of Children’s & Women’s Hospital.

The move is part of USA Health’s overall effort to become a high reliability organization, said Nathan Polite, D.O., associate chief medical officer/chief quality officer for surgery at USA Health. “Dr. McDonald’s appointment reflects his strong leadership and commitment to quality and safety in pediatric surgical care,” Polite said. “His expertise will help ensure the highest standards of care for children at Children’s & Women’s Hospital.”  

McDonald, who joined USA Health in 2021, also serves as research director for orthopaedic surgery and assistant program director for the orthopaedic residency program.

He has led efforts to improve care delivery and services for pediatric orthopaedic patients on the Gulf Coast, including launching a halo-gravity traction program to treat children with scoliosis and kyphosis, and developing USA Health’s pediatric complex spine program. Now he will work to optimize pediatric surgical care across subspecialties.  

“From a parent’s standpoint, handing their child over to a surgeon and their surgical team is an act of immense trust,” McDonald said. “My goal is to honor that trust by ensuring families in our community don’t have to travel hundreds of miles to receive world-class pediatric surgical care.”  

The ACS developed the CSV program to provide stringent guidelines for excellence in surgical care for infants and children. To earn verification, hospitals must undergo a comprehensive evaluation process and meet over 100 standards developed to improve and sustain the quality of care for pediatric patients. Currently, there are 62 children’s surgery-verified centers nationwide, but none in Alabama.  

“My focus will be on working with the wonderful people involved in this process to foster a true multidisciplinary ecosystem where everyone who has a hand in the pre-operative, peri-operative and post-operative care experience for children works as a single, cohesive unit,” McDonald said. “We want to ensure that, right here at Children’s & Women’s Hospital, a child receives the exact same high-level care they would get at any top-tier children’s institution in the country.”