ANMC receives highest level of Pediatric Facility Recognition Program designation
October 9, 2015Categories: Healthy Medical Services
The Alaska Native Medical Center is constantly working to ensure we provide the best and latest innovations in care for our pediatric patients from primary and emergency care to inpatient and specialty care. This week, ANMC was recognized as a Comprehensive Pediatric Emergency Center, the highest certification in the Pediatric Facility Recognition Program. ANMC is the first and only hospital in Alaska with this recognition. The surveyors who visited the ANMC hospital this week were very impressed and spoke highly of our quality of care and processes and procedures in place to care for our pediatric patients. The Federal Emergency Medical Services for Children program is dedicated to developing and promoting emergency medical services and trauma systems in health care facilities to adequately prepare for the care of children. This organization has developed the Pediatric Facility Recognition Program based on the Joint Guidelines for Care of Children in the Emergency Department. The goal of this program is to help clinics and hospitals deliver high quality pediatric emergency medical care and to ensure all health care facilities are appropriately prepared for the emergency care of children. “We are very proud of this recognition,” said Dr. Patti Paris, ANMC Emergency Department Director. “This validates that we provide excellent pediatric care and are able to provide any services that are available in Alaska.” As medical care has advanced over the years, physicians and health care providers have come to learn that children have unique anatomical characteristics and physiological responses to disease processes that often require pediatric-specific treatments. Experts in the fields of pediatrics and emergency medicine have established national guidelines to ensure that children receive the same quality of emergency care as adults. This recognition means that ANMC is now validated as providing the highest quality pediatric care in Alaska and has pediatric-specific equipment; health care providers trained in pediatric emergency/resuscitation care; pediatric-specific policies and protocols; a system in place for monitoring pediatric care and performance improvement; organized transfer processes, such as inter-facility agreements and guidelines facilitating movement of pediatric patients and resources as necessary; and processes in place to assure family integration. “Research indicates that having a pediatric-specific program in place results in demonstrable improvement in morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population,” said Dr. Paris. “This recognition is good for all pediatric patients throughout the entire Alaska Tribal Health System.”