Advancing the Care of Hospitalized Children
The Division of Hospital Medicine provides general pediatric care for hospitalized patients with a diverse array of acute and chronic medical conditions. In addition to providing evidence-based clinical care, we coordinate care to meet the needs of patients while in the hospital, and prepare them for the transition home. When requested, we provide general pediatric consultation services for medical and surgical subspecialists.
Our physicians are strategically positioned as innovative leaders and champions of safety, efficiency and quality improvement initiatives throughout our hospital.
Role of the Hospitalist
In recent years, the model of how pediatricians care for hospitalized children has undergone significant changes with the advent of the pediatric hospitalist, and the field of pediatric hospital medicine. In many ways, this is the continuation of a trend toward location-based specialties seen with the emergence of adult hospital medicine, pediatric critical care, and pediatric emergency medicine.
Inpatient Unit Coverage
CHLA hospitalists provide ward attending coverage for the pediatric resident teams. We also care for specific patients on the attending-only Hospitalist Service, with a focus on co-management and consultation services for our medical and surgical subspecialty colleagues. The Hospitalist Service has a close relationship with our colleagues in pulmonology, gastroenterology, pediatric surgery, and the surgical subspecialties.
Cardiovascular Acute Unit
CHLA has a special inpatient unit dedicated to the care of children with congenital heart disease and other complex cardiac conditions. Our hospitalists work closely with cardiologists, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care personnel to deliver coordinated care to this important patient population.
Education and Training
In addition to training fellows through our Hospital Medicine Fellowship program, we also train and supervise medical students and pediatric residents in the clinical setting.
For residents interested in learning more about pediatric hospital medicine, we offer a hospital medicine elective in which they can learn more about the clinical and non-clinical responsibilities of a pediatric hospitalist. Contact us at 323-361-6177.
Research Overview
The 70 physicians and research staff in the Division of Hospital Medicine at CHLA seek to improve the care of the most vulnerable hospitalized children. We strive to be one of the country’s premier pediatric hospital medicine research programs, with special expertise in underserved populations, such as Medicaid recipients, racial/ethnic minorities, and other children with medical complexity that are hospitalized for a variety of medical and surgical conditions. Through collaboration within our division and with our medical and surgical colleagues at CHLA and the University of Southern California, we conduct meaningful and actionable research that significantly advances the care of these vulnerable populations. Our current research efforts fall under several broad domains: (1) Medical Education; (2) Quality Improvement/Patient Safety (including high-value care); and (3) Clinical Research. Our division’s research efforts have received support from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Institute of Health, the Thrasher Foundation, the Academic Pediatric Association, the Gerber Foundation, and local CHLA grants. Learn more about Hospital Medicine Research.
