Hospital Medicine: Managing Complex Care at Cincinnati Children's

Even when they are very sick, children today spend much less time in hospital beds than children of their parents' generation. But when children do need inpatient care, their conditions are more complicated than ever.

Cincinnati Children's had the foresight to create a separate division of Hospital Medicine to recognize this changing paradigm of care.

Our Division of Hospital Medicine has grown from 21 physicians in 2012 to 45 physicians and three nurse practitioners today. Our Surgical Services Team helps thousands of children each year recover from the most complex operations. Our Rapid Response Team addresses situations that may require moving a child to intensive care. And every day our Chronic and Complex Care Service makes its rounds from room to room. This innovative service simplifies planning care for children with complex needs by bringing physicians, nutritionists, pharmacists, social workers and others together in one group.

While many medical centers employ hospital medicine specialists, few conduct research at the scale happening at Cincinnati Children's. Our faculty published more than 90 papers last year. Our work includes developing national guidelines for pneumonia treatment and finding ways to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use. We are rethinking the need for so many blood tests and we are leaders at managing the often-difficult transition for patients from hospital to home.

Patients at Cincinnati Children's already benefit from the work of our Hospital Medicine experts. In the years ahead, we will continue examining how we practice and share what we've learned so that outcomes will improve for children in hospitals throughout the United States and around the world.