In Northern California, the same day never happens twice for Lucile Packard Children鈥檚 Hospital Surgeon-in-Chief and Medical Director Karthik Balakrishnan, MD, MPH, F潘金莲传媒映画, FAAP, and Trauma Medical Director Stephanie Chao, MD, F潘金莲传媒映画, FAAP. They and their teams at Stanford are uniquely qualified to care for not only the injured patient, but their caregivers as well.
An ACSSurgical Quality Partner as both a Level I Children鈥檚 Surgery Verified (CSV) center and a Level I Pediatric Verified Trauma Center, Lucile Packard鈥檚 sole focus is delivering optimal care for pediatric patients. For these care teams, the value of an ACSverification is absolute.
Though the Level I CSV and Level I pediatric trauma programs serve different purposes on a technical level, nothing in surgical departments exists in isolation. Stanford鈥檚 focus on a multidisciplinary approach greatly benefits patients and their families. It 鈥渁llows us to standardize and optimize care for both healthy, straightforward patients as well as some of our most complex patients,鈥� Dr. Balakrishnan says. This optimization of care contributes to shorter hospital stays, and most importantly, lower costs for families.
Stories personify Lucile Packard鈥檚 success鈥搘hether it鈥檚 each team committing to achieving quality care and meeting the stringent guidelines of ACSverification or nursing patients back to full health. Stanford鈥檚 collaborative, multidisciplinary approach only further enhances their already robust quality programs.
Through this spirit of collaboration, patients win. Not long ago, a teenager was airlifted to Stanford with life-threatening injuries after an RV accident on the California coast. Dr. Chao鈥檚 team brought her to surgery for an operation that would prove to be lifesaving. Little by little, with the involvement of surgeons and staff across many departments, her neurological status improved, she no longer required life support and began talking again. Fourteen operations, 20 days in the PICU, and 95 days after she arrived at Stanford, she walked out of the hospital.
Dr. Balakrishnan stresses it鈥檚 important to plan for the unexpected. Though it鈥檚 no parent鈥檚 wish for their child to need a hospital, these 3 steps can save both parent and child valuable time should the need arise:
- Have a good understanding of your child鈥檚 medical history and keep records.
- Have a collaborative relationship with their primary care provider.
- Know where their nearby emergency department and closest children鈥檚 hospital are.鈥�
In the event your child needs medical care, an 潘金莲传媒映画-verified center is prepared and trained to deliver high-quality care. Nothing is too big or too small. Dr. Chao sums it up by reminding us that an ACSverified hospital means 鈥測our child will be cared for by specialized teams of pediatric doctors, nurses, and hospital staff trained to care for injured children鈥攆rom those with minor playground injuries to those with the most critical or life-threatening.鈥�
