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www.FredParent.NET • • • • 21 • • • • • • • 21 • • 21 Sponsored Material Join us April 9 for the live conversation on The administrative part for me is assuring that the program does what its initial function and purpose is. I am not only making sure we have the staff trained and able to take care of patients in the hospital, but also that the structure within the hospital is built for pediatric care and that it is working with any safety, quality and regulatory issues that may come up. Basically, whatever is needed and whatever needs to be structured to make sure those aspects are taken care of. Q: Once a child is put into your care, who talks to the parents and explains management of care? Pediatric hospitalists are in the hospital day and night seven days a week, so we talk to them at admission, and we round with them in the morning with nurses, students and family. Any issues that come up acutely, we are able to talk with them to go over it and manage it. Q: Where can parents get more information about hospitalists for their child? There is information on the MWH, SH and Children's National websites as to what a pediatric hospitalist is. There is also a handout that is given on arrival. Q: How Many pediatric hospitalists are on staff at MWH and SH? Twenty hospitalists and one nurse practitioner. Q: Does CNHS Pediatric Hospitalist Program at MWH and SH have future plans for development? Currently, we are expanding or looking at aspects of how we continue to manage the population in the nursery. We are also collaborating with the emergency department on expanding pediatric care in the ED so pediatric consults can be provided prior to children being admitted in to the hospital. Q: How are you involved in studying current trends in pediatrics? I'm looking at aspects of ways health care is managed and finding a cohesive structure of management. Is every person who is admitted get- ting appropriate treatment? The easiest way to do that is as a hospitalist group rather than each PCP coming to see a patient. The average lay person doesn't know what a pediatric hospitalist is or why programs are being set up. The gist is that pediatric hospital- ists are not there to replace your pediatrician. Their goal is to be part of the continuum of care with their pediatrician and what they are doing, but also when they get admitted to the hospital. Pediatric hospitalists are not only there to communicate with the parents about what is happening with their child, but that what they are doing is based on scientific evi- dence of what should be done and that they have built an environment that is safe for them in that area in an adult setting. Pediatric hospitalists are trying to build a mini bio- sphere in pediatrics within adult hospitals. Have a question you'd like to ask about the Pediatric Hopitalist Program at MWH? Dr. Alvarez will be hosting our Ask The Expert session April 9. Ask The Expert is a live discussion on our Facebook page between you and a local expert. Join us every Thursday at 8 p.m. facebook.com/FredericksburgParent Francisco Alvarez, M.D., FAAP, is an assistant profes- sor in pediatrics at Children's National Health System (CNHS) in Washington, D.C., and medical director of the CNHS Pediatric Hospitalist program at Mary Washington Hospital (MWH) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Stafford Hospital (SH) in Stafford, Virginia. Throughout tenure at CNHS and his current position he has been involved in Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems, Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Clinical Workflow Enhancement, Resident and Hospitalist Fellow Education, and Quality and Safety Improvement. He has presented work done on pediatric quality and safety improvement within community hospital settings at the International Quality and Safety Forum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and London, England. He has also presented similar work at the Pediatric Hospital Medicine Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Meet the Expert a sk t h e e x p e rt The administrative part for me is assuring that sure those aspects are taken care of. Q: HOSPITAL LINKS: MWH and SH (http://j.mp/mwh-hospitalist) CNHS (http://j.mp/CNHS-hospitalist)