Cardiac Inpatient Care
| Improving Patient Outcomes |
“We have been very involved in the improvement of patient outcomes, not only clinical outcomes, but in patient experiences. Our focus is partnering with families, recognizing that we are invited into this experience with them. We are continually looking at changing the perspective.”
Susan H. Ryckman, RN, MSN, CPNP, Senior Clinical Director for the Heart Institute
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High Tech and High Touch
The Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center provides top-tier cardiac treatment with compassionate family-centered care.
Cincinnati Children's utilizes the state-of-the-art medical facilities to provide innovative care and advanced treatment for pediatric cardiac patients. Skilled specialists provided outstanding pediatric cardiac care to 1,999 inpatient visits in fiscal year 2008. Cincinnati Children's is a regional referral center for newborn and pediatric heart patients.
The Heart Institute provides expert surgical care for the full spectrum of congenital heart problems in patients from newborns to young adults. Our focus is complete corrections of defects in the newborn and on management of complex, single-ventricle cardiac defects.
Cincinnati Children’s performs nearly 400 cardiac operations per year; approximately 250 of those are open-heart surgeries. Approximately 25 percent of the patients treated are under a month of age; 60 percent are under one year of age.
Our expert team – made up of highly skilled nurses, respiratory therapists, and physicians – boasts the highest number of physicians who are board certified in both pediatric cardiology and pediatric critical care medicine in a five-state region.
All of the rooms in the CICU are private and offer bathrooms, phones, TVs with a VCR and DVD players, internet access and recliner / sleep chairs.
The Hybrid Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Cincinnati Children's is located next to the CICU – making the experience much less stressful for patients and families – and is one of few such facilities at a pediatric hospital in the United States that allows "all-in-one-room care," including simultaneous catheterization and surgical procedures. The lab, which opened in 2007, is among a few in the nation to provide real-time communication between the lab and other cardiac specialists throughout the hospital, which can improve the outcome for children treated here. The Hybrid Cardiac Catheterization Lab is also safer for the smallest and most vulnerable of patients with complex, congenital heart disease.
The Telemetry Unit at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center provides continuous, 24-hour monitoring of pediatric heart patients who, in most cases, are recovering from heart surgery or catheterization performed at the Heart Institute. As in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), the step-down staff is highly skilled in the care of children with cardiac needs. The 17-bed unit known as A6 Central averages more than 5,000 patient days annually. Care managers at Cincinnati Children’s facilitate discharge and provide an important link between the inpatient and outpatient environments. Learn more about the Telemetry Unit.
Contact the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children's
For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
