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Vol. LXIII, No. 27
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Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 27
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Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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The University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have joined forces to provide enhanced pediatric services in the Princeton HealthCare System.
Beginning this month, the new CHOP Pediatric Care at UMCP (the pediatric unit) and CHOP Newborn Care at UMCP (the Level II special care nursery) will be staffed by doctors and other health professionals from CHOP 24 hours a day.
The CHOP pediatric hospitalists will provide care for children and adolescents admitted to the pediatric unit, as well as pediatric consultations in the Emergency Department and the Well Baby Nursery. Administering sedation to children will also be managed by CHOP staff.
Princeton HealthCare System President and CEO Barry Rabner said that since the system “serves over 300,000 people per year, with many, diverse programs,” one guiding principle is “no dabbling.” He explained that “if we can’t do it well, we try not to do it at all, or try to figure out how to do it well.”
The affiliation agreement with CHOP was cited by Mr. Rabner as a way the HealthCare System is providing top-notch pediatric services. “So, now, we’re not dabbling. We have the best pediatric service provider in the country working with us, and that feels good.”
UMCP pediatricians will be supported by the program, and will have the option of caring for their own patients in the pediatric unit, or transferring the care to the CHOP hospitalist.
The medical center also announced that CHOP’s neonatologists would provide care in the Special Care Nursery, and would attend high-risk deliveries as requested.
In a recent presentation of the latest details about the hospital campus at the new Plainsboro site, Mr. Rabner mentioned that all of the rooms in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) were purposely designed to be single rooms, which has been shown to reduce infections and increase baby weight.
CHOP will continue to partner with UMCP at the new site. Currently, UMCP is evaluating building a pediatric subspecialty branch at the site, though final decisions have not been made, Mr. Rabner said.