Day Medicine Program
The Day Medicine Unit provides service to children for a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic needs, including assessment, direct and indirect interventions, minor procedures, patient and caregiver education, nursing care and surveillance. In addition to these functions, staff nurses from the Day Medicine Unit provide sedation and other nursing services as needed to the Department of Radiology on a scheduled basis. Patients are referred to Day Med from their primary care physicians or from specialty clinics and are accepted from birth to age 18. The Day Medicine Unit is open for care between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Nurses also provide off-hour sedation coverage for emergency cases.
The nursing staff is required to have certification in Pediatric Advanced Life Support and competency in light and moderate sedation, IV insertion, physical assessment, and patient and family education as required.
Principle Diagnoses:
- Asthma
- Autism
- Cerebral palsy
- Closed fractures
- Dehydration
- Diabetes mellitus
- Digestive disease
- Epilepsy
- Encoperesis
- Hearing loss
- Immunodeficiency disorders
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
- Lyme disease
- Medical imaging diagnostic testing
- Migraine headaches
- Milk allergy
- Osteogenisis imperfecta
- Post-liver and kidney transplants
- Rabies exposure
Principle Procedures:
- Apheresis procedures (performed by the Red Cross)
- Blood product transfusions
- Botox injections with sedation
- Bowel "clean-outs"
- Breath analysis testing
- Endocrine testing
- Food allergy testing
- Inoculations, immunizations, and allergy services as needed
- Joint injections
- Lumbar punctures
- Medication infusions such as Remicade, Pamidronate, IVIG, and a variety of antibiotics
- Post-surgery hydration
- Minor invasive procedures such as IV starts and NG tube placements
- Pre-sedation preparation and sedation recovery and for diagnostic studies and procedures
- Research protocols
- Sedation for hearing tests, electroencephalograms (EEGs), and echocardiograms
- Sedation for PICC line insertions
- Sedation services for minor orthopedic procedures, such as casting or fracture reduction
- Sedation services for minor surgical procedures, such as skin biopsy or circumcision
