Using the Hospitalist Service at Children’s

Hello all,

We see thousands of kids each year at our practice. At times it’s difficult to balance office care and hospital care. Especially with RSV season approaching, it’s great to know we have partners in care we can call on to help with the expected winter increase in patient visits.

Most pediatricians and family doctors now depend on the Children’s hospitalists to extend our ability to offer our families and kids the best care we can. The hospitalist program at Children’s is into its second year. Because they are based full-time at the hospital or satellite inpatient services at Lutheran, Saint Joseph’s and Parker Adventist, they are available when needed, can cover call, and know the hospital operations well so they can facilitate timely consults, additional ancillary services or transfers, if needed.

We have found that building a working relationship with the hospitalist service helps us manage our inpatient responsibilities and our office visit schedule. By partnering with a hospitalist, we know our hospitalized patients and their families have more direct doctor interaction and we have additional time to spend with our office visitors.

Building a close working relationship also improves communication. It’s easy to pick up the phone and discuss care plans with a colleague we’ve worked with on a regular basis.

I’d like to encourage those of you who haven’t yet worked with Dr. Jenny Reese at the main campus, or Dr. Dave Scudamore at Children’s Network of Care locations and their staffs, to get in touch with them and begin building a primary care/hospitalist relationship. Your kids and families will have access to extended services, communication with your colleagues will improve and you’ll have a resource for managing a full schedule of young patients.

Sincerely,

Jay Markson, MD,
President, Medical Staff

For more information about partnering with pediatric hospitalists, contact Jenny Reese, MD, Director Inpatient Medicine, at (720 )777-8800 or at reese.jennifer@tchden.org. At The Children’s Hospital at Parker Adventist Hospital , St. Joseph or Lutheran, contact Dave Scudamore, MD, Medical Director, Hospitalist Programs for the Network of Care at (720) 777-9798 or scudamore.douglas@tchden.org.