Stanford Pediatric Emergency Dept. Gets County's Highest Designation

PALO ALTO, CA —Stanford Medicine's pediatric emergency department has been designated as a Comprehensive Receiving Center by Santa Clara County Emergency Medical Services, the university has announced.

The designation, which took effect last Friday, is the highest of four levels of readiness for treating young patients.

The new statewide program to classify all of California's emergency departments is designed to help first responders to direct young patients to the nearest facility capable of meeting their needs. One goal of the program is to minimize the need for later patient transfers.

"Whatever your child's needs are, we at Stanford have the specialty personnel, training, child-specific equipment and wherewithal to offer any emergency medical service to the community," said Dr. Bernard Dannenberg, clinical professor of emergency medicine and of pediatrics at Stanford. "That's the overarching advantage of having such a comprehensive facility."

Dannenberg added: "This (statewide program) is about getting the right patient to the right hospital."

According to Stanford, the hospital submitted an application for the designation. Then, a team from the county visited the emergency department (ED) to verify that it is prepared to deal with a broad range of pediatric emergencies.

Stanford said the county was impressed with the ED's ability to treat rare but critical conditions and with its wide range of specialists with pediatric expertise, including: emergency physicians, surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists, nurses, pharmacists, child life specialists and respiratory therapists.

County officials also evaluated the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford's ability to admit critically ill patients from the ED into its pediatric and neonatal intensive care units.

Additionally, Stanford said its application highlighted that Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health already are jointly certified as a level 1 pediatric trauma center, which is the most advanced designation for caring for young patients with traumatic injuries.