Hospital Medicine
Hospital Medicine
Our hospitalists specialize in providing inpatient care to children during their stay on Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s general medical floors.
The program was designed to provide both continuity of care for the patient and family and to allow referring physicians to direct admit patients for certain pediatric illnesses, which decreases unnecessary Emergency Department visits.
What is a Pediatric Hospitalist?
Pediatric hospitalists are pediatricians who specialize in the care of children primarily in hospitals. They care for children in many hospital areas, including the pediatric ward, labor and delivery, the newborn nursery, the emergency department and the inpatient psychiatric ward. At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, your child may see a pediatric hospitalist in any of these settings.
Pediatric hospitalists work with primary care physicians, specialists and allied health providers such as therapists, child life specialists, social workers and nutritionists involved in your child’s care. When a child leaves the hospital, a pediatric hospitalist communicates with the primary care physician to provide an overview of the child’s hospital stay and detailed instructions for any necessary further care.
Pediatric hospitalists care for children with a wide variety of illnesses and medical needs whom require hospital care. Such medical needs include but aren’t limited to:
- Infectious illnesses
- Respiratory illnesses
- Problems with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and asthma
- Common pediatric illnesses such as influenza and dehydration
- Complex medical conditions
- Recovery from injuries or surgeries
- Care of newborns
Patient Safety
Pediatric hospitalists are often leaders in patient safety within children’s hospitals. Their training makes them alert to conditions that may require closer monitoring.
Here at Nationwide Children's, the pediatric hospital medicine team is heavily involved in the oversight of patient safety. A dedicated pediatric hospital medicine provider serves as the Safety Officer of the day to provide oversight for children admitted to the hospital. In this role, the pediatric hospital medicine provider helps to insure that patients at risk for getting sicker have appropriate and timely plans in place for what to do next. They work closely with the Pediatric ICU team, as well as a child’s primary team, to make sure children receive timely and safe care when needed.
In addition, when children undergo rapid worsening of their illness, the pediatric hospital medicine provider is a member of the team that serves to evaluate and treat the patient depending on the situation.
Improving Quality of Care
Pediatric Hospital Medicine providers often serve to help improve the quality of care for patients admitted to children’s hospitals. This can occur in a variety of different ways: from improving the process of caring for children, evaluating the way in which we diagnose and treat diseases, and by collaborating with other teams to find better ways to do things within a pediatric hospital and in the electronic medical record.
The team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is happy to contribute to the ongoing quality improvement occurring every day within our hospital. Each day, pediatric hospital medicine providers work with teams to evaluate and improve the care of children admitted to the hospital.
Some of the many projects pediatric hospital medicine providers worked on include:
- Improving communication with families related to whom is helping to care for them
- Improving the accuracy of problems which children are being treated for
- Improving the treatment of patients admitted with RSV or Bronchiolitis
- Improving the care of patients admitted with abdominal pain
- Improving flu vaccination rates for patient admitted to the hospital
- Preventing patient readmission to the hospital following discharge
- Promoting safe sleep environments to patient admitted to the hospital
Meet Our Leadership
Amy N. Tyler
Amy N. Tyler, MD, is chief of the Department of Hospital Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Sharon S. Clark
Sharon S. Clark, MD, is chief of the Section of Adult Hospital Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Michael F. Perry
Michael Perry, MD, is chief of the Section of Hospital Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Nancy N. Liao
Nancy Liao, MD, is associate division chief for Education in the Section of Hospital Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Melissa L. Skaug
Melissa Skaug, MD, is associate division chief for Operations in the Section of Hospital Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Resources for Professionals
Nationwide Children's is proud to be one of the premier children’s hospitals in the country. We are America's Largest Pediatric Hospital with more than 1.4 million patient visits each year, and we made U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospital Honor Roll, a distinction awarded to only 12 children’s centers nationwide. As America's largest pediatric hospital and research center, our Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) providers have access to vast resources and opportunities.
PHM team members at Nationwide Children’s come from a variety of clinical, educational and cultural backgrounds. Our team of more than 40 includes dedicated newborn hospital providers, med-peds providers and pediatric hospital medicine fellows.
PHM providers at Nationwide Children’s currently cover four service lines (three of which are comprised of resident teaching services, the other stand-alone attending service managed in conjunction with a midlevel provider) treating a variety of health care conditions. Average daily census on the PHM services is approximately 10 pediatric patients per day.
Our faculty are heavily involved in the education of students/residents, including Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellows (effective July 2018.) Providers provide various administrative, clinical and academic roles through Nationwide Children’s academic affiliation with The Ohio State University College of Medicine. These roles include:
- Clinical Guidelines Committee
- PREP Hospital Medicine Advisory Committee
- Ohio AAP, CME Planning Committee
- Clinical Competency Committee
- OSU Portfolio Coach
- OSUCOM Longitudinal Group Facilitators
- Academic and Behavioral Review Committee
- AMRCC Curricular Committee
- QI Diagnostic Task Force
- You Matter/Second Victims Program
- Treat Me With Respect Committee
- NCH Faculty Development Advisory Committee
- NCH Pediatric Residency Education Committee
- OSUCM Grades Appeal Committee
- OSUCM Student Review Committee
- Chair, NCH Residency Compliance Committee
- AAP Clinical Pediatric Hospital Medicine Conference Planning Committee
