Emergency Unit
The Emergency Unit receives approximately 50,000 visits annually, or 120-130 visits daily. Approximately 75 percent of these are urgent/emergent and 20 percent are non-urgent. The division is composed of 10 full-time attending pediatric emergency physicians, three fellows, 12 pediatric nurse practitioners, 51 nurses and pediatric residents of all levels. The medical staff evaluates all patients presenting for care, unless a patient is specifically referred to a medical or surgical subspecialist. Trauma care is initiated and often maintained by the emergency staff.
Transport Team
In many cases, transporting patients to the Emergency Unit is handled by the SLCH Transport Team. The team can travel by ground ambulance, helicopter, or fixed-wing plane or jet, depending on the distance and patient condition. The team also operates three Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICUs), which allow medical personnel to provide intensive care for patients in a 300-mile service area while in transit to SLCH.
Residents are accepted onto the Transport Team after successful completion of supervisory ICU rotations, basic life support (BLS) and pediatric advanced life support (PALS) certification, supervised transports and recommendation by the directors of house staff training and the Transport Team.
Simulation Center
Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital have developed the largest Pediatric Simulation Center in the United States. It is located on the 5th floor of St. Louis Children's Hospital and consists of two pediatric simulation rooms -- each equipped with state of the art mannequins, video monitoring, debriefing rooms and work stations. Here residents can care for virtual patients in critical event situations. The Center provides a safe and nurturing environment for residents to learn basic airway management, emergency response and crisis management. Residents have scheduled participation.
Pulmonary Medicine
The pulmonary medicine program is home to the most active pediatric lung transplant program in the world and one of the largest cystic fibrosis centers in the Midwest. With a fully equipped and nationally acclaimed pulmonary function lab, the program is a national leader in treating childhood asthma. It has one of the top pediatric sleep labs in the Midwest. In addition to diagnosing and evaluating a child’s allergy or asthma, the medical team works with other hospital staff to educate families and caregivers about home care.
Cardiology
The Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery team at SLCH provides diagnosis and treatment of acquired heart problems and congenital heart disease or malfunction in children. The division is nationally recognized as a leading pediatric heart transplantation center and performs 15 to 20 heart transplants each year. The division also offers a full array of diagnostic techniques, many of which are noninvasive and were either developed or advanced at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. SLCH recently unveiled a state-ofthe-art Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) to care for the most critically ill patients. From newborns to young adults, the 12-bed unit provides every patient and family a private room. In 2007, the CICU tallied 2,116 patient days.
NICU and PICU
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides 67 beds in a newly designed space. In 2007, the NICU had 764 admissions and 20,549 patient days. The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit has 36 beds and had 6,299 patient days in 2007.
General Pediatric Wards: 7E, 7W, 8E, 8W and 12
The mission on the general medicine wards is to provide an environment for safe, effective, 24-hour nursing care to pediatric medicine patients, emphasizing the restoration of their maximum state of health and wellness, along with the prevention of illness and injury.
Pediatric Activity by the Numbers - 2008 |
| Inpatient Discharges | 15,152 |
| SLCH Clinic Visits | 96,940 |
| W.U. Clinic Visits | 92,340 |
| Inpatient OR Cases | 4,289 |
| SDS Cases | 7,392 |
| EU Visits | 52,469 |
| NICU Admits | 715 |
| NICU Patient Days | 21,973 |
| CICU Patient Days | 3,224 |
| PICU Patient Days | 6,263 | |
Health care is provided in a family-centered care model, in which families are respected as the child’s primary caregivers and essential participants in decisions that impact the healing of the child. We focus on the strengths of both the child and family, with an appreciation of the diversity of each family unit.
Both male and female patients from newborn through age 21 are cared for here. Common diagnoses include seizures, meningitis, asthma, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, diabetes, hyperbilirubinemia, constipation, and sepsis and other infectious diseases, including influenza, RSV and erhlichiosis.
Outpatient Experiences
While there is value in the traditional ward and unit house staff teams, this educational model is powerfully complemented by the outpatient experiences. The Emergency Unit, with 50,000 patients annually, the outpatient component of the subspecialty rotations (ambulatory visits to SLCH clinics total over 185,000 per year), COPE continuity clinics and the elective months add up to about 17 months of the 33 working months of residency. COPE continuity clinics put residents in a community pediatrician’s office one half-day per week and for two to four continuous weeks per year (see continuity clinic description on page 20).
Subspecialty rotations that provide outpatient experiences:
- Adolescent Medicine
- Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine
- Behavioral/Developmental Medicine
- Cardiology
- Child Neurology
- Child Protection Training
- Critical Care Medicine
- Diagnostic Medicine
- Endocrinology and Diabetes
- Gastroenterology and Nutrition
- Genetics and Genomic Medicine
- Hematology and Oncology
- Rheumatology
- Infectious Diseases
- Nephrology
- Neonatology
Areas of study are also available with dermatology, gynecology and pediatric surgery. Fellowships of two to five years are available for post-residency training in clinical and research activities.
Emergency Unit
The Emergency Unit receives approximately 50,000 visits annually, or 120-130 visits daily. Approximately 75 percent of these are urgent/emergent and 20 percent are non-urgent. The division is composed of 10 full-time attending pediatric emergency physicians, three fellows, 12 pediatric nurse practitioners, 51 nurses and pediatric residents of all levels. The medical staff evaluates all patients presenting for care, unless a patient is specifically referred to a medical or surgical subspecialist. Trauma care is initiated and often maintained by the emergency staff.
Transport Team
In many cases, transporting patients to the Emergency Unit is handled by the SLCH Transport Team. The team can travel by ground ambulance, helicopter, or fixed-wing plane or jet, depending on the distance and patient condition. The team also operates three Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICUs), which allow medical personnel to provide intensive care for patients in a 300-mile service area while in transit to SLCH.
Residents are accepted onto the Transport Team after successful completion of supervisory ICU rotations, basic life support (BLS) and pediatric advanced life support (PALS) certification, supervised transports and recommendation by the directors of house staff training and the Transport Team.
Simulation Center
Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital have developed the largest Pediatric Simulation Center in the United States. It is located on the 5th floor of St. Louis Children's Hospital and consists of two pediatric simulation rooms -- each equipped with state of the art mannequins, video monitoring, debriefing rooms and work stations. Here residents can care for virtual patients in critical event situations. The Center provides a safe and nurturing environment for residents to learn basic airway management, emergency response and crisis management. Residents have scheduled participation.
Pulmonary Medicine
The pulmonary medicine program is home to the most active pediatric lung transplant program in the world and one of the largest cystic fibrosis centers in the Midwest. With a fully equipped and nationally acclaimed pulmonary function lab, the program is a national leader in treating childhood asthma. It has one of the top pediatric sleep labs in the Midwest. In addition to diagnosing and evaluating a child’s allergy or asthma, the medical team works with other hospital staff to educate families and caregivers about home care.
Cardiology
The Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery team at SLCH provides diagnosis and treatment of acquired heart problems and congenital heart disease or malfunction in children. The division is nationally recognized as a leading pediatric heart transplantation center and performs 15 to 20 heart transplants each year. The division also offers a full array of diagnostic techniques, many of which are noninvasive and were either developed or advanced at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. SLCH recently unveiled a state-ofthe-art Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) to care for the most critically ill patients. From newborns to young adults, the 12-bed unit provides every patient and family a private room. In 2007, the CICU tallied 2,116 patient days.
NICU and PICU
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides 67 beds in a newly designed space. In 2007, the NICU had 764 admissions and 20,549 patient days. The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit has 36 beds and had 6,299 patient days in 2007.
General Pediatric Wards: 7E, 7W, 8E, 8W and 12
The mission on the general medicine wards is to provide an environment for safe, effective, 24-hour nursing care to pediatric medicine patients, emphasizing the restoration of their maximum state of health and wellness, along with the prevention of illness and injury.
Pediatric Activity by the Numbers - 2008 |
| Inpatient Discharges | 15,152 |
| SLCH Clinic Visits | 96,940 |
| W.U. Clinic Visits | 92,340 |
| Inpatient OR Cases | 4,289 |
| SDS Cases | 7,392 |
| EU Visits | 52,469 |
| NICU Admits | 715 |
| NICU Patient Days | 21,973 |
| CICU Patient Days | 3,224 |
| PICU Patient Days | 6,263 | |
Health care is provided in a family-centered care model, in which families are respected as the child’s primary caregivers and essential participants in decisions that impact the healing of the child. We focus on the strengths of both the child and family, with an appreciation of the diversity of each family unit.
Both male and female patients from newborn through age 21 are cared for here. Common diagnoses include seizures, meningitis, asthma, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, diabetes, hyperbilirubinemia, constipation, and sepsis and other infectious diseases, including influenza, RSV and erhlichiosis.
Outpatient Experiences
While there is value in the traditional ward and unit house staff teams, this educational model is powerfully complemented by the outpatient experiences. The Emergency Unit, with 50,000 patients annually, the outpatient component of the subspecialty rotations (ambulatory visits to SLCH clinics total over 185,000 per year), COPE continuity clinics and the elective months add up to about 17 months of the 33 working months of residency. COPE continuity clinics put residents in a community pediatrician’s office one half-day per week and for two to four continuous weeks per year (see continuity clinic description on page 20).
Subspecialty rotations that provide outpatient experiences:
- Adolescent Medicine
- Allergy and Pulmonary Medicine
- Behavioral/Developmental Medicine
- Cardiology
- Child Neurology
- Child Protection Training
- Critical Care Medicine
- Diagnostic Medicine
- Endocrinology and Diabetes
- Gastroenterology and Nutrition
- Genetics and Genomic Medicine
- Hematology and Oncology
- Rheumatology
- Infectious Diseases
- Nephrology
- Neonatology
Areas of study are also available with dermatology, gynecology and pediatric surgery. Fellowships of two to five years are available for post-residency training in clinical and research activities.