la rabida children's hospital

Inpatient Care

As a specialty hospital, our focus is on the treatment of children who have medically complex conditions associated with chronic illness or developmental disability. We partner with prestigious health care institutions to ensure that our special needs patients receive high quality care.

Inpatient Care
At La Rabida, we treat children who:
 

24/7 Physician Coverage
Our inpatient unit is staffed with board-certified pediatricians around the clock, every day of the year. 

Pediatricians who specialize in the treatment of medically complex conditions staff our hospitalist program. Hospitalists are specially trained to provide medical care to patients who are hospitalized. They work closely with our patients’ primary care physicians to ensure continuity of care. Effective July 1, 2009, our hospitalist program will include pediatricians from Children’s Memorial Hospital.

Nurse Staffing
The Hospital Report Card Act requires hospitals to share certain information about nurse staffing and assignment with consumers upon request. For details on making such a request, click here.

For more information about inpatient services or to make an admission referral, call the Admissions Coordinator at 312.498.4408.

Multidisciplinary Care
Multidisciplinary care is an important element in the continuum of care at La Rabida. It permits the child’s care team of physicians, nurses, therapists, psychologists, and other professionals to efficiently develop a comprehensive plan of treatment. This results in the child receiving coordinated and comprehensive care. Case management also helps families maintain the highest quality of life for their child, both at home and in the community.

We help patients and their families maximize the child’s health status and level of functioning and minimize emergency room visits, hospitalizations and school and work absenteeism.

Coordinating a Patient’s Care
Case managers at La Rabida coordinate a patient’s care from admission through discharge. They begin by completing a comprehensive interdisciplinary assessment of child and family needs along with individualized goals. For inpatients, an admitting team expedites and simplifies the admission process. Patient escorts are on hand to assist families throughout the admission process to the bedside.  Support groups and consultation are provided for families of children with specific chronic conditions.

Working with Patients and Families
Throughout the hospitalization and after discharge, case managers communicate with the family and the child's health care team. We provide age-appropriate education, as needed, to help patients and families understand the patient’s condition. In addition to working with the interdisciplinary teams to implement a plan of treatment, case managers work with health care providers and agencies to address a family’s special needs.

La Rabida's Child Life Program helps young patients adjust to being in the hospital, no matter how extended or frequent his or her stay may be. Read more on the La Rabida experience.

Follow-up Care
The case management staff monitors the child's physical and emotional status and is available to families by phone or appointment. The staff also provides resources for families who have questions and concerns about their child's care. Anticipating future health care needs is an important part of keeping children healthy.

Social Work Assessment, Advocacy and Intervention
Social workers assess family strengths and needs, locate community resources, coordinate referrals, advocate for patients and provide supportive counseling to patients and their families. Specially trained family advocates are also available to help the family coordinate special education referrals and attend school staffings, obtain needed services, and assist families with forming questions and getting answers from professionals.

At-Home Care
We work hard to help each patient leave the hospital and return home as soon as medically possible. But children with complex medical conditions often need ongoing comprehensive care that extends beyond the acute phase of their illness. This is particularly true for children who are technology-dependent or who need intensive rehabilitation services. For these children and their families, inpatient transitional care services are critical to maximizing health outcomes and equipping families to care for their child at home.