McMaster Children's Hospital

This article is about McMaster Children's Hospital. For other similarly named hospitals, see Children's Hospital (disambiguation).

McMaster Children's Hospital
Hamilton Health Sciences
File:HHS McChild.H.jpg
Geography
Location	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates
Organization
Care system	Public Medicare (Canada)
Hospital type	Teaching, Children's hospital
Affiliated university	McMaster University
Services
Emergency department	Yes
Beds	157
History
Founded	1988
Links
Website	mcmasterchildrenshospital.ca
Lists	Hospitals in Canada

McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) is an academic tertiary care teaching hospital affiliated with McMaster University. It is operated by Hamilton Health Sciences and is within the McMaster University Medical Centre. McMaster Children's Hospital became a children's hospital in 1988. The hospital was recently ranked 2nd in Canada for research according to Research Infosource Inc.

Overview

McMaster Children’s Hospital is one of four specialist paediatric hospitals in the Canadian Province of Ontario and is the regional referral centre for children who are seriously ill, injured or require specialized services in south-central Ontario. In addition, a range of specialized outpatient services operate at the Chedoke site, including autism, developmental pediatrics & rehabilitation, and paediatric psychiatry. McMaster Children’s Hospital is home to one of the largest neonatal intensive care units in Canada, although there is arguably no clinical significance (e.g., improved patient outcomes) seen with larger vs. smaller NICUs, and many in the South-Central Ontario service region question the need for so many beds to be situated in Hamilton when the majority of those patients are coming from elsewhere in the region and there is a case for re-allocating some of those beds and services to be closer to families in Halton Region (pop. 500,000), Niagara Region (pop. 430,000), and Kitchener-Waterloo Region (pop. 500,000). McMaster Children’s Hospital is a member of the Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres. It is also home to the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research and the Offord Centre for Child Studies.

The hospital has 157 acute care beds including: 51 medical/surgical beds, 46 in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, 14 Level II Nursery beds, 10 critical care beds, 4 step-down care beds, 22 psychiatry beds, 4 express beds (open 12 hours each day to accept overflow admitted patients from the ER), and 6 eating disorder beds.

The services and specialties available at MCH range from paediatric inpatient services (medicine, surgery and all subspecialties), paediatric intensive care, neonatal intensive care, paediatric oncology, outpatient specialty clinics, emergency services specializing in the care of children, nutrition, metabolism and exercise program, developmental paediatrics & rehabilitation, integrated child & adolescent psychiatry. MCH also specializes in services for children with developmental, physical, communicative, behavioural and emotional problems. Treatment for these problems is also provided in community-based settings and in clients’ homes.

The hospital has two main campuses located at McMaster University Medical Centre and the Chedoke site and is a key support to the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integrated Network and the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network and partners with other paediatric academic health science centres in Ontario.

McMaster Children’s Hospital is a member of the Hamilton Health Sciences system of hospitals, which also includes the Hamilton General Hospital, St. Peter's Hospital, McMaster University Medical Centre (MUMC), the Chedoke Hospital and the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre.

McMaster Children's Hospital Research Collaborative (MCHRC) led by McMaster Children’s Hospital and supported by in Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation, is a collaboration of many research partners including CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, the Offord Centre of Child Studies, and academic departments from McMaster University faculties such as Health Sciences.

The Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation raises money to support capital projects, equipment, and research required at the hospital. McMaster Children's Hospital is a member of the Children's Miracle Network.

External links

• McMaster Children's Hospital Website
• McMaster University Department of Pediatrics
• McMaster Children's Hospital (Foundation)