Inpatient Medical Services for Children

CHOP Pediatric Care at The Chester County Hospital is a joint pediatric service of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and The Chester County Hospital. CHOP Pediatric Care combines the extensive resources of Children's Hospital with the strong experience and excellent facilities of The Chester County Hospital. We have the professional staff and services in place to care for the special needs of children.

Child and Family-Centered Care

Emergency treatment and admission to the Hospital can be frightening for children and parents alike. Our caring staff understands that when a child is hospitalized, the whole family is affected. We will partner with you to provide the best care for your child and support for your family.

Most children are resilient and recover quickly from the illness that caused them to be admitted. Still, many parents can become overwhelmed and feel "rushed" by the fast pace of their child's Hospital stay.

We encourage parents to communicate openly with our staff, and tell us how we can best serve your physical and emotional needs. Be involved in your child's care. Take the opportunity of your child's admission to ask questions and learn about your child's illness and what you can do to prevent a reoccurrence, if possible, or to treat the illness if it happens again.

Pediatric Hospitalists Program

About Our Team

At The Chester County Hospital, our inpatient services are provided by our CHOP Pediatric Care team of pediatric hospitalists. Pediatric hospitalists specialize in the care of hospitalized infants and children (up to age 18). Our hospitalists are board certified and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) certified pediatricians, and provide 24-hour, seven-days-a-week coverage. A pediatric hospitalist is on site at all times.

Because hospitalists do not have outpatient office practices, they are able to provide an uninterrupted presence at the Hospital and concentrate their experience solely on working with hospitalized children. As a result, these specialists are ideally suited to care for your child when he or she needs admission or urgent care.

Depending on your child's length of stay in the Hospital, he or she may see more than one member of the CHOP Pediatric Care physician team. The CHOP Pediatric Care physicians involved in your child's care will meet together on rounds to discuss your child's case thoroughly each day. This sharing of information, as well as accurate and complete documentation in the medical chart, helps to maintain a consistent approach to your child's care.

Our patients are referred to us from pediatricians and family medicine physicians who trust our experienced team to care for their young patients while in the Hospital. Once your child is well enough to leave the Hospital, he or she will return to the care of his or her personal pediatrician or family physician.

About Our Service

Having a constant presence in the Hospital allows our pediatric hospitalists to:

• Keep a close eye on your child. Respond quickly to any emergencies, and see your child more than once a day, if the need arises.
• Be more available to answer parent questions and to teach you about your child's illness.
• Help your primary care physician be more available to you. Because we are in the Hospital all day, your doctor can be with you in the office with fewer delays and interruptions.
• We go to great lengths to keep your child's primary care physician fully informed of your child's illness and treatment plan. Your doctor is notified promptly of your child's admission to the Hospital and of any significant changes in your child's condition while hospitalized as well as upon your child's discharge from the Hospital.
• When your child is discharged, the pediatric hospitalist will compose a complete summary of your child's Hospital stay, including his or her test results and a list of medications your child is currently taking. This summary is faxed to your regular doctor on the day of your child's discharge from the Hospital and will be available at the time of your child's follow-up visit with his or her usual outpatient physician.

Additional Pediatric Medical Services

The Pediatric Department at The Chester County Hospital includes physicians that specialize in outpatient pediatrics, as well as pediatric specialists in Allergy and Immunology and Pediatric Dentistry. The Hospital's relationship with CHOP provides access to additional pediatric specialists in Philadelphia, such as Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Gastroenterology, when those services are needed.

Last Updated: 5/6/2013