Inpatient Pediatrics – Update on Service

Last year 73 pediatric patients were admitted to Chester River Hospital Center. The inpatient pediatrics unit was closed 50% of the time, due to such few pediatric inpatients. Due to the limited number of children admitted as inpatients (children who had to be admitted to the hospital and stay overnight), the hospital has changed how we are managing pediatric patients to ensure that they get the best and most timely care possible.

Chester River Hospital Center continues to treat and stabilize all ill and injured children who come to the Emergency Department. There has been no interruption of care or change in the care provided to children brought to the Emergency Department.

• All children who are brought to the Emergency Department are evaluated, treated and released, or stabilized and transferred to another hospital if more specialized care is required that cannot be provided at Chester River. The majority of pediatric patients who require hospital admission are transferred to a hospital with a dedicated pediatric specialty unit. Children 14 years and older are admitted to Chester River Hospital for medical care.
• Children 12 years and older who require surgery, such as for an appendix removal, are evaluated in the Emergency Department, stabilized and may be admitted to Chester River Hospital by a surgeon. This is a case-by-case basis, dependent on complexity of the medical emergency and what surgery is required.

Children who need to be admitted, after being assessed and treated in the Emergency Department, are transferred to hospitals, including Memorial Hospital in Easton, Union Hospital, Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Anne Arundel Medical Center and Christiana, as well as pediatric "centers of excellence" including AI Dupont Hospital for Children, Johns Hopkins Children's Center and University of Maryland Children's Hospital. Several of these facilities are staffed with pediatric hospitalists and in-house pediatricians available 24/7, while others have pediatricians on call. Chester River Hospital has agreements with these institutions to ensure seamless, doctor-to-doctor transfers of pediatric patients. Chester River Hospital Center is dedicated to making sure patients receive the appropriate level of care, considering all factors—the right place, the right time and the best care.