Pediatric Emergency Care in Elizabethtown, KY

Pediatric Emergency Care in Elizabethtown, KY Health Talk Transcript:

Joseph Stone, MD, Emergency Medicine, and Tara Davenport, MSN, RN, Nurse Educator
Baptist Health Hardin

Joseph Stone, MD:

Here at Baptist Health Hardin Emergency Department, we have a pediatric readiness certification, and that shows that we are prepared to care for patients of all ages of life, but specifically those from 18 down to the first day of life.

Tara Davenport, MSN, RN:

We are required to have training equipment and be able to assess and stabilize any child who comes in, and we've proven that through the certification.

Joseph Stone, MD:

All of our equipment has to be specially sized for pediatric patients. We have different equipment based on size, weight and age. We have to dose medications appropriately also, which are based on weights that vary at different ages.

Tara Davenport, MSN, RN:

We have training and education requirements, continuing education requirements for all of our staff, not only our nurses and physicians, but also for our ED techs and our unit secretaries, to ensure that all of us are prepared to take care of any child that comes in the doors. I am very proud that our facility pursued pediatric readiness certification because we want the community to trust in us. We can assess, we can stabilize, we can intervene, we can do the treatments that are needed, and that means for families, we can give that care close to home.

Joseph Stone, MD:

I would like parents to know that when they bring their children to the emergency department here at Baptist Health Hardin, we treat that as a very important event, and we're prepared for them. Whether they're critically ill, seriously injured, or something less severe, we're ready to take care of all pediatric patients.