Child and Teen Inpatient Unit Our Child and Teen Inpatient Unit provides care for over 600 children per year with a wide variety of illnesses who require admission for medical and/or surgical reasons. The unit on the 3rd floor of our General Site welcomes the involvement of families in caring for their children. We are increasing the number of inpatient beds so more children can get the care they need here. Acute Area The hospital is increasing the breadth of specialty care in the IODE Children's Centre. We are in the planning stages of developing a new acute care area for the sickest children we admit, and an investigation and treatment area to examine the causes of certain illnesses and treat them. In putting these plans into action, we will rely on the expertise of our specialists: 4 paediatric neurologists; 2 paediatric cardiologists; 2 paediatric general surgeons; a paediatric gastroenterologist; a specialist in paediatric infectious diseases; a paediatric endocrinologist; 4 child and adolescent psychiatrists; a developmental paediatrician; and 2 paediatric specialists in nutrition. Continuity of care To serve children and their families even better, a paediatric hospitalist program has been developed. Working as partners with your physician, paediatric hospitalists provide high quality care to young patients during their hospital stay. A benefit is greater continuity of care - these physicians work on the unit for 7 continuous days. Our health care team strives to make patients as physically, mentally and emotionally comfortable as possible. However, at times, despite our best efforts, our young patients can find their experiences to be scary, painful and daunting. To address these concerns we have three steps in place:
Inpatient Support Clinic The hospital has recently opened a inpatient support clinic to function in support of the hospital stay for children with medical and surgical needs. The clinic provides evaluation and treatment for common medical and surgical problems in order to prevent, prepare for, shorten, and support after-hospital admission. The clinic also provides a site for follow up from emergency visits or the after-hours clinics. Neonatal Intensive Care About 10% of newborns are premature or ill and require special intensive care. Our modern Level II Tippet Foundation Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) provides specialized care for babies born 30 weeks or earlier in a pregnancy. The unit can continuously care for all but the sickest infants (for whom we provide care to stabilize, provide initial treatment and transfer to our tertiary partners). The unit features 12 bassinets and four care-by-parent rooms. Opened in 2002, the NICU was one of the first in Toronto to feature care-by-parent rooms equipped with a bed, bassinet, bathroom and kitchenette. Parents of babies who have complex needs and have been unable to care for their baby while in the NICU can use a care-by-parent room before going home to learn how to care for their baby while under the supervision of a nurse. Parents for Special Babies offers a parent support group made up of those who already have experienced caring for a special-needs newborn. The group also does fundraising to enlarge the unit. Every year there's a reunion of children cared for in the unit, called the PeeWee Picnic. Paediatric Surgery North York General Hospital is a major centre for paediatric surgery. We perform more than 3,000 operations annually on patients under 16 years of age. Through an evolving partnership with the Hospital for Sick Children, currently in the implementation stage, we will increase the hospital's ability to meet our community's paediatric surgical needs, closer to home. Increased surgeries will mean shorter wait times for children. Available specialists include experienced paediatric general surgeons, paediatric anesthesiologists, otolaryngologists, dental and maxillofacial surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, and plastic and reconstructive surgeons. To reduce fear in children who will need surgery, we offer a Paediatric Tour. Before surgery, children and parents go to our paediatric waiting room Grace's Place, where they will be joined by a health care professional. Parents can walk with their child as far as the operating room door. Later, one parent can rejoin their child in the recovery room. |