Surgical Services

surgeon

At Nemours, we recognize that surgery for children is very different from surgery for adults. That’s why our surgical teams include highly trained pediatric specialists – anesthesiologists, surgeons, surgical nurse practitioners, and nurses – who understand both the physical and emotional needs of all children getting an operation. And that’s why everything we do is tailored to your child’s individualized needs and to putting your family’s mind at ease.

Our Many Surgical Services

As part of our Surgery Department we offer surgical services across a wide range of specialties. Depending on what area(s) of the body are affected your child may need the care of various physicians and surgeons focused on specific specialties, such as:

  • General Surgery (which usually involves operating on any area but the brain, bones, and heart – for procedures like appendectomies, hernia operations, and some types of newborn surgery) 
  • Dental (tooth procedures such as some tooth extractions or complex dental work)
  • ENT/Otolaryngology (procedures involving the ear, nose, and throat – like tonsillectomies, adenoidectomies, and cochlear implants)
  • Eyes/Ophthalmology (surgery for blocked tear ducts or eye muscle surgery to treat strabismus/crossed eyes)
  • Neurosurgery (operations involving problems in the brain, skull, spinal cord, spinal column, or other parts of the nervous system – such as brain tumors, injuries, birth defects, etc.)
  • Bariatric Surgery (bariatric/lap band surgery designed to help with weight loss)
  • Plastic Surgery (reconstructive or corrective surgery, such as ear tag removal or involved facial surgery)
  • Transplants (liver/kidney transplants; blood and bone marrow transplants)
  • Urology (problems with male and female urinary tracts, and the male reproductive system – such as hernia or undescended testis)

When it applies, we’re also able to offer minimally invasive procedures to diagnose and treat various conditions at certain Nemours locations. Some procedures typically done with “open surgery” (which requires larger “open” incisions) can be performed using the patient’s natural openings (like the mouth and throat) or through tiny incisions an inch or smaller. And that means shorter hospital stays, quicker recovery times, less pain and discomfort, reduced chance of infection and bleeding, as well as much smaller scars.

In addition, we provide state-of-the-art heart surgery through our Cardiothoracic Surgery Department and orthopedic surgery (on bones, muscles, and joints) through our Department of Orthopedics.

Keeping Everyone in the Loop

We know that any kind of pediatric surgery, whether it’s a simple outpatient procedure or a more complex inpatient operation, can come with some worry and fear – from both you and your child. Knowing what to expect can help ease the stress and make things much easier for everyone in your family. With our impressive collection of visual media and videos we aim to make sure you understand what’s going to happen at every phase of your child’s procedure.

For one, Nemours is among the first to offer EmmiKids®, an interactive Web-based program that uses easy-to-understand language and animated art to explain some common pediatric procedures. Created, in part, by Nemours’ very own world-renowned, award-winning website KidsHealth.org, (the most-visited website about children’s health in the world) EmmiKids goes over all the details – the risks, alternatives, and what to expect before, during, and after. You can even watch and share the program multiple times from home or in Nemours hospitals and clinics – or anywhere with Web access, for that matter.

KidsHealth.org has also partnered with the GetWellNetwork, Inc. (a leading provider of interactive patient care information) to offer a series of in-hospital videos about what you can expect during some common surgical procedures. Kids staying at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children (AIDHC) in Wilmington, DE can view these videos at their bedside.

To top it off, KidsHealth.org also offers a series of online videos aimed at kids to help both you and your child understand what will happen during certain procedures that might be needed before the actual surgery itself – things like blood tests, an IV, and X-rays.

And Nemours continues to use cutting-edge technology to our advantage to keep everyone in our health system on the same page about your child’s condition and care. With just the click of a button, our surgeons can access your child’s entire electronic medical record (or EMR) from all of the different Nemours specialties and locations.

Sharing Our Skills Across the Communities

Various Nemours locations throughout the DelawareValley and Florida offer inpatient surgeries (when your child would need to stay overnight) and outpatient operations (when your child would get to come home with you on the day of the procedure).

In addition to the surgical services we provide at our own AlfredI. duPont Hospital for Children (AIDHC), we bring that same quality of Nemours care to a number of other locations as well. Through special partnerships with certain area hospitals, our Nemours physicians are able to take their expertise to other locations, offering highly skilled surgical services and inpatient care beyond our own hospital’s doors.

Nemours' Surgical Wound Infection Rates Far Better Than National Average

When your child needs any kind of operation performed by Nemours surgeons, you can rest assured that you’re getting top-notch surgical care from some of the best pediatric surgical specialists in the field. In fact, we’re a national leader in surgical results and overall quality of surgical care.

One of the major ways we’re able to keep tabs on how we’re doing is by tracking the number of surgical wound complications for both inpatient and outpatient procedures (that’s operations done on children staying in the hospital, as well as those who are able to go right home after surgery).

Of course, when your child needs a surgical procedure you probably don’t think twice about infections of surgical wounds. Why would you? You’re likely just focusing on the operation itself—and hoping it helps fix whatever’s going on in your child’s body.

But when your child gets an everyday cut or scrape it’s important to clean the area, put antibacterial ointment on it, and cover it with a bandage to prevent an infection. When it comes to an operation, preventing wound infections is essential because it means a faster recovery and a shorter hospital stay.

Preventing Surgical Wound Infections

Nationally, there are two infections for every 100 procedures. Our record at Nemours is far better.  In 2009, we had less than one infection for every 100 procedures. In other words, the national average is 100% higher than ours!

We’re also pleased to report that by the end of 2009 our “post-operative wound infection rate” (that’s the number of infections after surgery) was 22% lower than it was in 2008. So we’re always improving on our already-low rates.



How We Do It: Timing Is Everything

It’s been shown that one of the most important ways to avoid surgical wound infections is giving patients preventive antibiotics (called “prophylactic antibiotics”) to keep infections from setting in. We do this in selected cases where these antibiotics have proven to make a difference in infections. Our surgeons, surgical nurse practitioners, nurses, and anesthesiologists all work together to make sure that those kids get the antibiotics they need—when they need them.

When the antibiotics are given is key to how well they work. According to national guidelines, antibiotics should be administered within 1 hour of when these select surgeries begin. If the surgery is longer than 3 hours, the antibiotics will also typically need to be given again during the operation. How or whether they’re given after the procedure also matters. When necessary, we usually give antibiotics within 24 hours after the surgery ends.

At Nemours, we’re also exceeding the national goal (of at least 90%) when it comes to giving antibiotics at the right time. For 2009, we administered IV antibiotics within the recommended 0-60 minutes before surgery in 97% of our operations. And through the end of June 2010, we were at 98%—that’s well beyond the national goals given to all hospitals.

Our Vast Surgical Experience

Making every effort to prevent surgical wound infections is just one of the ways Nemours’ surgeons offer a top-notch experience for all of our patients. From 2006 through 2009, we performed nearly 71,000 surgeries across all of our Nemours health care locations combined, including:

  • outpatient surgeries (when kids go home the same day as their operation)
  • inpatient operations (when children need to stay in the hospital overnight)
  • surgeries at our partner hospitals

From children requiring minor surgeries (like ear tubes) to those needing more involved operations (like brain surgery), at Nemours our highly skilled staff at all of our surgical locations demonstrate the skills, experience, and dedication needed to take care of every child as if they were our own—whatever it takes.

Learn More

Find out about pediatric surgery at Nemours.

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