In the Hospital

Supportive Care While Hospitalized

Our Pediatric Supportive Care Team provides support for a large number of hospitalized children and their families. Our focus is on helping children and families feel better. We specialize in relieving physical, emotional, social or spiritual suffering.  Sometimes our support means coming up with a new medication plan for managing pain and at other times it might mean sitting and listening to a family’s concerns. Often times, it is providing children and their families with an extra layer of support.

In addition to relief of suffering, a significant part of our work is making sure there is open communication with families about what is happening to their child and why. This includes communication directly with families as well as communication among the multiple specialty teams involved in a child’s care.

Support from our team is not limited by a child’s age or diagnosis. Unlike most specialties, we see children with a variety of medical concerns including acute illness, cancer, serious injury, chronic illness, and prematurity.

Our hospital based Pediatric Supportive Care Team includes a nurse practitioner, five rotating pediatricians with expertise in palliative care, a child life specialist, a social worker, a parent support advocate, and a pediatric chaplain. We see approximately 400 hospitalized children a year and on any given day we are involved in the care of 20-30 admitted children.

A consultation with our team can be requested at any time during a child’s stay at Golisano Children’s Hospital.