| Newborns |
Pediatricians At MGH Provide 24 Hours A Day On The Spot Coverage For Sick Newborns
Without warning a newborn baby suddenly develops a life-threatening problem and a pediatric medical team immediately responds. Or a pregnant woman is carrying a baby that unexpectedly shows signs of distress and an emergency cesarean section is performed.
In these and similar situations, a few minutes can sometimes make a critical difference to a newborn child. Marin General Hospital is now making sure that medical help is always immediately available during these difficult times.
MGH pediatrician Dr. Eric Scher has developed a new program that assures pediatricians are always on duty in the hospital to care for newborns suffering serious medical emergencies. His team of pediatricians is also available to assist in the Emergency Department whenever children are brought in with serious or life-threatening illnesses.
They also provide 24 hour on-call coverage to Novato Community Hospital's Emergency Department.
"We established this important new program to help these children," Scher said. "Since June, a pediatrician is now physically at MGH 24 hours a day/7 days a week. This is a step up from what most non-teaching, community hospitals provide."
This means that when a woman has a high risk pregnancy, needs an emergency cesarean section, or has a newborn with unexpected serious health problems, Scher or one of his colleagues is there to work with the obstetricians.
Scher and nine other pediatricians are part of MGH's new "Pediatric Hospitalist Program."
In the past, pediatricians were on call and would come to the hospital in an emergency, but it sometimes took from 15 - 30 minutes before they arrived. This is the standard response time for non-teaching, community hospitals.
Now, one of them is already at the hospital and available for immediate on-the-spot help.
Like Scher, most of the pediatricians in the program do not have private practices but spend most of their time working at MGH. A physician who only treats patients in a hospital is called a hospitalist. All of the pediatric hospitalist physicians have special skills in hospital-based pediatric care.
Scher pointed out that the pediatric hospitalists do not replace a family's usual pediatrician or family practice physician.
"Families who use the pediatric hospitalist program are not giving up their regular doctor," he said. "When we provide emergency medical care to children in the hospital, we work very closely with the family's regular physician so that they know what is going on with the emergency. The regular physician continues to provide hospital care as well as seeing the child in the private medical office."
Scher said the Pediatric Hospitalist Program means that more women with high risk pregnancies can deliver at MGH than in the past. Before, more went into San Francisco if they were high risk. (He said that there are still many situations where the best medical decision is to send a woman who is high risk to a high level neonatal unit in San Francisco.)
"Marin General's new service provides women with a sense of confidence and security," he said. "This comes from knowing we are there to give immediate medical attention if the baby is having problems. It also means that more women have the convenience of staying in Marin to give birth."
Scher, father of two children (ages 4 and 6), both born at MGH, knows first hand the importance of immediate care during a high risk pregnancy.
"My wife's first pregnancy was high risk," he said. "She was in problem labor at 24 weeks, and required frequent visits to the MGH maternity unit for check ups. During the birth, a pediatrician was there right next to the obstetrician to make sure everything would be ok. And it was. Gabriel was born a healthy boy at 40 weeks, the normal time."
Scher, a pediatrician for 13 years, lives in Novato. He has worked in pediatric emergency medicine and pediatric critical care transport, including six years at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center. He received his medical degree from Tulane University in New Orleans and completed his residency at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.
The Pediatric Hospitalist Program is a cooperative effort of MGH, the Marin Individual Practice Association, and the pediatricians.
Your generous contribution to Marin General Hospital helps us in providing a community-based approach to your health. Your tax-deductible contribution will be gratefully acknowledged.
For more information, go to: Making A Gift or send your donation to:
| Marin General Health Foundation P.O. Box 8010 San Rafael, CA 94912-8010 |