Pediatric Hospital Medicine

The Riley Pediatric Hospitalist Program at IU Health
Riley Hospital for Children, IU Health Methodist, IU Health West and IU Health North

Mission Statement

The physicians who form the Riley Pediatric Hospitalist Program share a common vision dedicated to excellence in patient and family centered care, communication with each other and our colleagues, and a commitment to teaching and education.

The program is a group of clinicians not only dedicated to excellence in clinical care, but are also respected by their multidisciplinary colleagues for their attitude, work ethic, resourcefulness, and availability. The group is known for being friends outside of the work environment, manifested by seamless transition of care and harmonious practice between faculty attendings. They are active nationally and produce meaningful research by collaborating with others within and without of the discipline. They advocate for their individual patients and for patients globally within the health care system. They demand excellence from their trainees and from themselves; living and working with a high moral code and above reproach.

History

The Riley Pediatric Hospitalist Program has strong roots in the Indianapolis community. The group was founded at Methodist hospital to serve the needs of the pediatrics ward in 2002 by Dr. Shannon Phillips. Dr. Jeffrey Sperring assumed leadership of the group in 2002. The group grew to provide care at the Clarian North facility in December 2005, Clarian West in January 2007, and Riley Hospital for Children (Indiana's first teritiary care children's hospital) in July 2007.

These four facilities are the Indianapolis base of the IU Health hospital system, Indiana's largest comprehensive health center. In service at these facilities, the group provides a range of care spanning delivery room and neonatal care to tertiary care management of pediatric patients.

Academics

The spectrum of patient care provided by the hospital medicine service provides a unique educational opportunity to our medical students, residents and fellow at the Indiana University School of Medicine. All members of the group are board certified pediatricians, and most have additional post residency training as either chief residents or additional fellowship or boards. The group includes pediatricians who are also board certified in toxicology, emergency medicine and internal medicine.

As an academic section within the department of pediatrics at IU, the group is a vital part of clinical education for medical students and residents at Methodist and Riley hospitals. The group is active in spearheading innovative education opportunities, involving everything from implementing new hospital practices to supervising teaching conferences.

The hospitalist group provides an innovative elective in pediatric hospital medicine for residents. By using the breadth and depth of skills and experiences that the four facilities provide, the curriculum for the elective was developed by Dr. Jennifer Walthall and has been presented at national conferences.

The Riley Pediatric Hospitalist Program is also proud to be one of the first ten fellowship programs for pediatric hospital medicine in the country. The GME-accredited fellowship in pediatric hospital medicine is headed by director Dr. Benjamin Bauer and established in 2008. The inaugural fellow, Dr. Jennifer Oshimura graduated the program in spring 2010. The program promises to be on the forefront on the fast growing field, augmenting the group's role in clinical service at all four sites and enhancing the educational mission of the group.

Clinical Service

Riley Hospital for Children

Riley Hospital for Children is a 300 bed comprehensive care children's hospital. The Hospital Medicine service provides family centered care for 100% of the general pediatric admissions at Riley, as well as consultation services to the surgical and sub-specialist services on general pediatric issues. The group is also helps coordinate and facilitate transfers from outside providers around the state.

There are two full time hospitalists on service every day. Pediatric house staff, pediatric intensive care physicians, trauma surgeons and pediatric emergency medicine physicians are on-site and available 24 hours a day. The total patient volume for the pediatric hospital medicine service can range from 8 to 25 patients at any given time during the year.

Methodist Hospital

Methodist Hospital is a private community hospital with 33 pediatric ward beds as well as a 10 bed pediatric ICU, a level 3 neonatal ICU and a busy newborn nursery. The Methodist ED is one of two Level 1 trauma centers in Indiana, and the ED sees over 100,000 patients each year. The Hospital medicine service provides care for between 70 and 90% of the general pediatrics admissions on the ward, and sees approximately 1000 well babies in the nursery each year. The daily census ranges from 5 to 20 patients on the pediatric ward. The group also provides consultant services to the inpatient pediatric rehabilitation unit.

Methodist hospital is also home to the Pediatric and Adolescent Care Center (PACC), a general pediatric clinic where many of our group continue to provide care for patients and continuity clinic supervision for IU residents.

IU Health North

IU Health North is a 170 bed community hospital with a pediatric ward. The Hospital medicine group cares for all ward pediatric admissions in a 16 bed ward, and works closely with PICU staff and Riley subspecialists to provide care and provide consultation services as needed. IU Health has a pediatric hospitalist on site for 12 hours each day as well as support from the pediatric ICU specialist during the night time.

IU Health West

IU Health West is a 130 bed community hospital which offers a full range of pediatric services. In addition to providing 24 hour coverage, the Hospital medicine group provides attends approximately 150 deliveries a year, as well as further care for normal newborns and in a special care nursery. The Pediatric hospitalist also provides pediatric consultation to the emergency room staff.

A common feature at all of the hospitals in which the group serves is our communication with the referring and primary physicians. Within 24 hours of admission, the primary physician is notified by telephone or fax. We also communicate updates during the patient's stay and at time of discharge for a seamless transition of care.

Accolades, Administration and Advocacy

The Riley Pediatric Hospitalist Program has been honored for their educational and scholarly activities. The group's accomplishments are diverse and numerous, but include accolades such as:

• The Morris Green teaching award four out of the last five years
• The Department of Emergency Medicine teaching award
• The Medicine-Pediatrics Attending of the Year
• IU Trustee Teaching Award
• Pediatric Academic Society (PAS) Scholars

In addition, the group is active in scholarship and research, including the following societies:

• Academy of American Pediatrics
• Academic Pediatric Association
• Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
• Alpha Omega Alpha

Finally, Riley Pediatric hospitalists have a reputation for implementing change and pursuing excellence through hospital administration and community outreach. Group leader Dr. Jeffrey Sperring is the Riley Hospital for Children chief medical officer, and group physicians are members of many core hospital committees, including the IU Health Professional Standards Committee and quality and safety control at Methodist and Riley hospitals.

Download our Pediatric Hospital Medicine Fellowship brochure.