Emergency Services

Advocate Hope Children's Hospital shares a campus with Advocate Christ Medical Center, a Level I trauma center (highest designation possible) that provides treatment to more than 21,000 children a year. Physicians are boarded or double-boarded in emergency medicine, pediatric emergency medicine and/or pediatrics, and have received APLS/PALS certification. Nurses participate in continuing education programs for pediatric critical care. Pediatric-appropriate equipment and drug information are standard in the department.

The emergency medicine department works closely with the pediatric intensive care staff at Hope Children's Hospital and provides treatment for the full range of minor, as well as critical, illnesses or injuries. Capabilities include: resuscitation, airway management, toxicology, complex pediatric disorders, congenital heart disease, and significant neurologic disorders.

The department maintains a pediatric-sensitive triage criteria and attempts to geographically separate children's care areas from adult patients. All rooms are private and walled-off with pediatric decor. An adjacent Pediatric Emergency Center has dedicated patient care rooms and a separate waiting area. The center also provides after-hours urgent care when a child's regular physician is not available.

For both urgent care and emergency services, the department strongly endorses a policy of timely or immediate communication and coordination with the child's physician.