Kavita Seth, DO, checks on a patient.

Providing the best care to hospitalized children requires clinical expertise, skillfully coordinated services and, most importantly, healthcare providers who are always available to reassess their patients’ changing needs, provide timely intervention and communicate with family members.

Huntington Hospital has taken steps to ensure this kind of care by instituting a Pediatric Hospitalist Program. It is one of only a handful of hospitals in the region to offer this service, which ensures that a pediatrician or pediatric certified nurse practitioner is on-site, 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week, to oversee and manage the care provided to infants, children and adolescents admitted with a range of medical and surgical disorders.

Under the direction of Kavita Seth, DO, a pediatrician with additional fellowship training in pediatric infectious diseases, the Pediatric Hospitalist Program is based upon close collaboration with community based pediatricians. Hospitalists coordinate the care that children receive in the hospital, and provide the child’s pediatrician with daily updates on their patients’ conditions and plan of care.

Upon discharge, the child returns to his or her pediatrician for follow-up and continuing outpatient care.

Community pediatricians are enthusiastic about the benefits of this program to their patients.
“As pediatricians, we want to know that our patients are being monitored by skilled practitioners. Having these specialized physicians and nurse practitioners always in the hospital is a tremendous benefit,” noted Thomas McDonagh, MD, Chief of Pediatrics.

“Being on site is an advantage for the hospitalists because we are able to coordinate all of the hospital’s available resources to ensure that children are receiving seamless care,” remarked Dr. Seth.

In addition to managing the care provided to hospitalized children, Dr. Seth and her team are also available to co-manage children who are undergoing surgery, to consult on newborns, and to assist with diagnosing and treating children in the Clark Gillies Children’s Emergency Care Center. With her background and training in pediatric infectious diseases, Dr. Seth brings a heightened level of expertise to the care of children being treated for infections.

"Often the pediatrician will tell parents to look for us when they bring their child to the hospital, either through the Emergency Department or Admitting," Dr. Seth noted. "That provides them with additional comfort because they know that someone is expecting their child and is familiar with their case when they get here."

"Because they are based at the hospital, pediatric hospitalists may see a child more than once a day, if necessary," commented Michael B. Grosso, MD, Sr. Vice President of Medical Affairs at Huntington. "As part of our team of professionals who are dedicated to taking care of our community's children, pediatric hospitalists enhance the services we provide to inpatients, outpatients and emergency patients." //

Healthline July 2008