East Tennessee Children's Hospital (ETCH)

East Tennessee Children's Hospital ("etch") is the only comprehensive regional pediatric center in East Tennessee. Since 1937, etch has provided excellent pediatric health care for children from birth to 21 years of age. Etch offers more pediatric subspecialties than any other Hospital in the region, serving children from East Tennessee, southwest Virginia, southeast Kentucky and western north carolina. The subspecialties available at etch include: adolescent gynecologyadolescent medicine(subspecialty list continued on schedule o)child abuse pediatricsdevelopmental-behavioral pediatricsneonatologypediatricspr... carepediatric allergy & immunologypediatric anesthesiologypediatric cardiology clinical geneticspediatric critical carepediatric dentistry/pedodonticspediatric dermatologypediatric emergency medicinepediatric endocrinologypediatric forensic medicinepediatric gastroenterologypediatric and adolescent gynecologypediatric hematology/oncologypediatric infectious diseasepediatric nephrologypediatric neurologypediatric neurosurgerypediatric ophthalmologypediatric orthopedicspediatric otolaryngologypediatric physiatrypediatric plastic/reconstructive surgerypediatric pulmonologypediatric radiologypediatric rehabilitation servicespediatric rheumatologypediatric sleep medicinepediatric surgerypediatric urologyperinatologypsychologyin addition, etch provides the following: medical/surgical services:the emergency department is staffed with board certified pediatric physicians, nursing staff, and diagnostic capabilities to provide treatment for all types of emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The department provides evaluation and treatment for patients up to 21 years of age with varying levels of illness and injury, from minor to life threatening. The Hospital's pediatric intensive care unit (picu) provides comprehensive, 24-hour-a-day treatment for critically ill and injured children. The picu is staffed with fellowship trained, board certified, critical care physicians and nurses specifically trained and experienced in the care of critically ill children. Patients in the picu receive a high level of monitoring and/or treatment until they are well enough to be transferred to a regular patient room or discharged home.in the neonatal intensive care unit (nicu), tiny and fragile infants born prematurely or facing life-threatening illnesses receive treatment from a team of board-certified neonatologists, with valuable assistance from specially trained nurses, respiratory therapists, lactation consultants, and other medical professionals. The nicu treats more than 900 newborns each year.as a regional referral center for East Tennessee, etch offers neonatal and pediatric transport from outlying hospitals in lifeline, a mobile intensive care unit specially designed to maintain the same quality of care during transport as patients receive in the Hospital's critical care units. Lifeline carries more than 1,000 supplies to administer care to patients, from the tiniest premature infant to an adult-size pediatric patient, during transport to the Hospital. In addition to the special equipment, the lifeline medical team may include a neonatologist, neonatal nurse practitioner, pediatric/neonatal rn, respiratory therapist, an emt, a-emt, and paramedics, depending on the condition of the patient. The Hospital's two lifeline vehicles traveled more than 32,000 miles in fy20 to dozens of different hospitals in 16 counties in Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky to transport hundreds of pediatric patients to etch.etch meets a wide range of pediatric surgical needs, from common outpatient procedures such as tonsillectomies to more complicated procedures, such as reconstructive surgery or neurosurgery. Five departments comprise etch's surgical services: operating room, pre/post surgery (outpatient surgery), inpatient surgery, anesthesia, and sterile processing. These departments work together to make sure each child's surgery and recovery is as quick and painless as possible. The doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and other surgical staff are trained in pediatric medicine. At any given time and for various reasons, a child may need to be admitted to etch as an inpatient. Doctors and nurses continuously monitor and treat inpatients according to their individual needs. Along with providing comprehensive medical and nursing care, etch is dedicated to making a child's stay in the Hospital as comfortable as possible. Each room has a tv with access to movie channels, and play rooms are located on each floor. Other services such as child life, nutrition, pastoral care. Rehabilitation and social work provide for the physical and emotional needs of the child. The respiratory care department at etch is staffed with licensed and accredited respiratory therapists whose roles include treating patients with lung and/or heart diseases such as asthma, pneumonia, premature lungs and cystic fibrosis. Treatments provided by respiratory therapists include aerosol medications, delivery of oxygen and other medical gases, ventilator management and many other procedures. Respiratory therapists help patients throughout the Hospital, from the emergency department to the nicu. They are also members of the pediatric transport team that helps bring sick and injured children to the Hospital for specialized care. Education is also a key role of respiratory therapists; they teach patients and their families how to care for certain conditions at home. The pulmonary function lab, a vital part of the respiratory care department, performs tests to diagnose lung and heart diseases. The department is staffed by specially trained respiratory therapists. Services provided include spirometry testing, metabolic studies, cardiac stress testing, lung volumes and the cystic fibrosis clinic. Echocardiograms are performed in the echo lab. Patients in a variety of Hospital departments may benefit from sedation during some painful tests and procedures. In addition, young children may need sedation to remain still during long tests, such as a magnetic resonance imaging (mri). To meet these needs, etch offers pediatric analgesia and sedation specialists (pass). While the Hospital cannot eliminate pain for some children, it is our goal to keep painful or uncomfortable situations to a minimum. Pass is a dedicated service that utilizes the most current sedation techniques to help children undergoing lengthy or painful procedures at etch. A multispecialty team sees each child, including a pediatric sedation physician and pediatric nurses who are specifically prepared to work with pediatric sedation. Diagnostic services:the clinical lab is responsible for all diagnostic testing, which includes the following areas: hematology, chemistry, microbiology, immunology, serology and blood bank.neurology lab - the neurology lab offers a variety of diagnostic tests for patients dealing with seizures, hearing problems, sleep disorders and other conditions involving the brain. The most common tests offered in the neurology laboratory are the electroencephalogram (eeg) for children having seizures and other neurological problems and the brainstem auditory evoked response (baer) hearing test, offered most often to infants who fail newborn hearing screenings and toddlers who are speech delayed. Children's sleep medicine center - the Children's sleep medicine center offers sleep study testing for children who are having problems with sleep. The sleep studies take place overnight, during the child's regular sleep cycle, to find the cause of problems such as sleep disordered breathing and parasomnias (night terrors, sleepwalking). Etch is accredited by the american academy of sleep medicine as the only sleep medicine center dedicated to pediatrics in East tennessee.the radiology department serves as an "imaging" center for children. These images include x-ray, ultrasound, ct scan, nuclear medicine, mri, and fluoroscopy.