

The care I received was really the best I’ve ever received.” “I told my wife that I didn’t know if I wanted to go home because they take better care of me here. “Everyone here was really awesome,” said Pair. The CDU will provide high-quality care for patients who require active and focused management during an expected length of stay of eight to 24 hours.įor his second visit in less than a month, Pair was able to head home after less than 24 hours. “The goal is to gradually expand to 14 beds and 20 protocols over the next six months.” “Our first six protocols are chest pain, cardiac failure, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma, cellulitis and syncope,” said Dr. The CDU opened with eight staffed beds and six protocols.
#Clinical decisions unit free
“These patients will be able to perform daily living activities and be free of active psychiatric conditions,” he said. Richard DeLeon, section chief, clinical decision unit, talk with staff members during an open house of the new clinical decision unit. Stephen Burgher, chief of emergency medicine at VA North Texas, left, and Dr. Thanks to funding from Children’s Hospital Foundation, CHoR has the only pediatric hospital medicine fellowship program in Virginia and will accept its second fellow this summer.Dr.

They also lead inpatient education for residents and medical students and collaborate with community pediatricians. Because they do not have outpatient responsibilities, hospital medicine physicians are able to focus on inpatient needs and coordinate care by other specialists as warranted. Marcello is one of seven hospital medicine specialists who coordinate general pediatric care for CHoR’s inpatients. At this time, patients must be seen in CHoR’s emergency room before being transitioned to the Pediatric CDU.ĭr. Patients requiring more than 23 hours of care are transferred to CHoR’s inpatient unit. Treatment can involve observation and evaluation or include short-term intravenous fluids or antibiotics. Patients with conditions ranging from respiratory, infectious and gastrointestinal issues to mild head injuries can be observed and treated in the Pediatric CDU. “It is a resource for our patients and allows them to receive the care they need and return home as efficiently as possible.” Marcello III, MD, FAAP, Associate Professor and Chief, Hospital Medicine. “Clinical decision units are popular in adult facilities, and more pediatric centers are revisiting these units,” said David E. The Pediatric CDU team consults with other CHoR specialists as needed and follows up with primary care physicians regarding treatment and discharge plans. When patients require ongoing treatment after an evaluation in CHoR’s emergency room, emergency medicine providers can admit them to the inpatient unit or transition them to the Pediatric CDU, where care is managed by advanced practice practitioners in collaboration with CHoR’s hospital medicine specialists. The opening of this unit is supported by the fact that between 20, nearly half of the children admitted to the general pediatric service at CHoR stayed for less than one day. With demand for inpatient services increasing, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU (CHoR) opened a Pediatric Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) near the hospital’s emergency room this spring with four beds dedicated to patients who require shorter-term observation and care.
