Going to the emergency department (ED) can be a daunting experience. For young children, the noises and commotion can be especially overwhelming, particularly when they're in need of emergency care.
That's the one reason Ocean Medical Center opened its Pediatric Emergency Center in summer 2009.
Another reason? "children used to be treated as mini-adults, but we have learned that they are completely different," says Khoshnood Ahmad, M.D., medical director of the Pediatric Emergency Center at Ocean. "Their needs are different, their health issues are different, their illnesses are different. The care they receive should be different."
The Pediatric Emergency Center at Ocean is specially designed to meet the needs of children ranging in age from newborn to age 17. It has four sepearate rooms and medical equipment designed specifically for children. There is a pediatric nurse and a pediatrician trained in emergency medicine in the Center seven days a week, from 3:00 to 11:00 p.m., which is when the ED sees the majority of children's visits.
Putting Families First
Jodie Orosz of Toms River has seen what a difference the Pediatric Emergency Center can make. She was getting her two children ready to go to the circus in August 2009 when her 5-year-old son, Dylan, pulled her daughter, Dakota, then 2, by the arm saying, "Let's Go!"
He accidently pulled her elbow out of the socket, which prompted a visit to the ED at Ocean. A nurse quickly walked the family to the adjacent Pediatric Emergency Center.
"We were ushered directly into a room," Jodie says. "It felt like we were at the doctor's office, not a hospital." Within one minute, a pediatric nurse came into the room. "She went directly to Dakota, gave her stickets to calm her down, and asked Dakota to move her arm."
The elbow popped back into place on its own, and the pediatrician was in the room within five minutes. The family was heading home less than 25 minutes after they had arrived at the hospital.
Speedy Attention, Specialized Care
Rapid care is one of the primary goals of the Pediatric Emergency Center. "the longer children and parents wait to be seen, the higher their anxiety and fear grows," Dr. Ahmad says.
Plus, because the Center has the support of experts and resources at the K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and the entire Meridian Pediatric Network, "we have a seamless transition should a child require advanced care," he explains.
Local pediatricians are delighted with the new Center. "I refer patients to a pediatric ED over a regular ED because the staff in a pediatric ED is more experienced in working with children," says pediatrician Maria Collado, M.D. "I feel more confident with the diagnosis and management of an ED physician who has pediatric training."
Jodie agrees. "As a mom, it's good to know that, if there is ever a crisis, there is this phenomenal local resource to help us through it."
About the Doctors
Khoshnood Ahmad, M.D.
Board certified in Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Neptune | 732-776-4510
Maria R. Collado, M.D.
Board certified in Pediatrics
Brick | 732-899-0008
