Our services
One priority for Shriners Hospitals for Children – Cincinnati is keeping the family doctor/primary care physician informed about the child’s treatment plans. Local providers can help families with problems between visits, such as removing stitches, bandages, or staples. Photos can be sent to the Cincinnati hospital by families or medical providers and are used by the hospital between visits to quickly address any concerns or questions.
Many resources are available to limit the time families are away from home, work and schools, such as Outreach Clinics and Telemedicine sites.
Shriners Hospitals for Children accepts patients for treatment based solely on a child’s medical needs, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
Our services
Adolescent Transition Program
Child Life
Cosmetic Consultation
Family Services/Care Coordination
Rooming In & Housing
Family Care Unit
Transportation
In-house Appliance & Garment Fabrication
Nursing Care
Nutrition
Occupational & Physical Therapy
Outpatient Services
Patient Education
Psychiatric Therapy
Critical Care Transport Team
Intensive Outpatient Treatment Program
Research
Telemedicine
ADOLESCENT TRANSITION PROGRAM
The Transitions program was developed help bridge the time of dependency to becoming independent. Older adolescent patients can come to the Transitions office to get assistance to compose a resume, look for job training assistance, access the computer for grant applications and scholarships, or find the medical information they will need for future treatment. The goal is to offer each patient the chance to become a productive member of their community.
CHILD LIFE
Child Life is a program that supports the child’s emotional, developmental and social needs. In activity rooms children play, develop new skills, talk about feelings, and participate in art, music, crafts and games. The child life specialists plan weekly events or special events to help reduce the stress of a hospital stay. The activity rooms are relaxing, safe environments where patients can socialize with other children and their families. Patients who are not well enough to visit the playroom are seen bedside by a child life specialist.
COSMETIC CONSULTATION
Cosmetic consultations are another one of the positive services that Shriners Hospitals for Children – Cincinnati offers its patients. Our professional make-up artist works with young adults with burn scars, traumatic scars, birthmarks, and other related conditions, to teach them the art of concealment and coverage through the use of makeup. Consultations are done through the Cincinnati hospital’s outpatient department.
FAMILY SERVICES/CARE COORDINATION
A care coordinator is assigned to each family to offer counseling, financial and housing assistance while the child is in the hospital. When a child or family needs support services at home, the care coordinators can make these arrangements.
ROOMING IN AND HOUSING
Our family-centered approach to care reinforces that we not only care for children, but we care for the entire family, too. If a hospital stay is required, a parent or guardian can room-in with most patients.
FAMILY CARE UNIT
When rooming-in is not an option, we offer a family care unit. These suite-like rooms are in the hospital, just down the hall from the patient rooms, and are equipped with a small refrigerator, television, and private bath facilities. When a child and family need a little extra time to complete home care instructions, the family care unit can be used as a transition room until the family is ready to return home.
TRANSPORTATION
Local Shriners can assist families with transportation to and from the Cincinnati hospital. Care coordinators and Outpatient Services can connect families with the local Shriner representative who can assist with transportation. Call 513-872-6092.
IN-HOUSE APPLIANCE SERVICE AND GARMENT FABRICATION
When it comes to scar management, our staff works closely to design special appliances and garments that are custom-made for every patient requiring these services. Clear plastic face masks and spandex pressure garments, such as gloves or vests, are measured, sewn and fitted for the patient. These items keep even pressure over the scarred or grafted areas to help keep the scars flat. As the child grows or needs change, new garments and appliances will be supplied to the family.
NURSING CARE
As a Magnet™-recognized hospital, families can be assured of quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Cincinnati. Our nursing staff knows that children need the love and emotional support of parents and family during the stressful time of being in the hospital. In recognition of all of these needs, our nursing fosters an environment that keeps parents and families close to the child and actively involved in meeting the individual needs of the child. The healthcare team and family develop a plan of care to meet the child’s physical, emotional and developmental needs while in the hospital, and anticipate the family’s needs in continuing the child’s care at home.
NUTRITION
Nutritional management of the pediatric burn patient is of critical importance throughout the length of the child’s hospitalization; a burn patient’s nutritional needs greatly exceed those of an unburned child. Our goal is to provide specific nutrients to promote wound healing, preserve lean muscle, enhance immune function, and protect patients from complications throughout the hospitalization. The cutting edge nutritional support provided by Shriners Hospital for Children-Cincinnati is based on the hospital’s extensive evidenced-based research.
Each patient is assessed by the clinical nutrition team, and is provided with an individualized nutrition program to promote good health and wound management. A room service menu is provided to give the child numerous food options and freedom to eat when they feel best. Clinical nutrition personnel guide the family in food selections to choose the best foods for their nutritional plan of care.
In cases where a patient cannot consume an oral diet because of the critical nature of their illness, a specialized food product is given via a feeding tube. Cincinnati Shriners Hospital’s tube feeding product is designed specifically for burn and wound treatment, developed through extensive research conducted over the course of many years at the hospital. The nutrients in the product are formulated according to the unique nutritional needs of each patient as determined by the nationally-recognized clinical nutrition team.
Consultations and support for cleft lip and cleft palate disorders, elective reconstructive surgeries, and other nutritional issues that present on an outpatient basis are available from our clinical nutrition team.
OCCUPATIONAL & PHYSICAL THERAPY
The goal of our OT/PT department is to prevent deformities that can result from a burn injury. Therapists work with patients and families to achieve the best functional and cosmetic results. Individualized programs are developed to help patients return to their pre-burn level of activity. Therapy involves work in the areas of mobility, scar management, self-care and activities of daily living to assure a child’s total recovery. Several kinds equipment, like stationary bikes or rowing machines are used in a gym-like environment to encourage movement.
OUTPATIENT SERVICES
Outpatient Services provides follow-up care for patients discharged from the hospital, plastic surgery, and reconstructive surgery patients. The department also manages and evaluates new referrals for small burn injuries and congenital disorders. Our physicians, nurses, occupational/physical therapists, and care coordinators work together to carefully evaluate a child’s condition, manage a child’s progress and develop a care plan that provides the best possible outcome for the child.
Outpatient Services also manages our telemedicine program. This program allows patients a way to access our skilled clinical staff without traveling to Cincinnati.
PATIENT EDUCATION
The school program is operated in conjunction with Cincinnati Public Schools, and the schoolroom is open year round. Teachers and volunteers see patients even when they are on bed rest, to make sure they don’t fall behind in their schoolwork. School assignments are brought from the child’s home school or similar work is provided so that the child receives school credit.
Shriners Hospitals for Children – Cincinnati provides a unique program called School Re-entry, available to all patients who have experienced a significant burn injury. Before the patient returns to school, Shriners’ staff holds meetings with the patient’s teachers and classmates. This program helps burn survivors re-acclimate to typical social situations in their home communities and provides classmates with an opportunity to learn lessons of empathy and acceptance.
PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT
In the case of severe burns and trauma, psychiatric treatment may be included as part of a child’s care plan to help manage pain, post-traumatic stress, depression and other conditions. The psychiatric team has been working with burned children for more than 30 years.
CRITICAL CARE TRANSPORT TEAM
When a child with severe burns needs specialized care, it is very important they are transferred to a verified pediatric burn center as soon as possible. Shriners Hospitals for Children — Cincinnati has the only pediatric burn transport service in the country, bringing critically injured children to the hospital within hours of their burn injury. Since 1988, our transport team has flown more than 1,800 critically injured patients into Cincinnati. A registered nurse and respiratory therapist who have undergone extensive training accompany patients on transports.
SUMMER BURN CAMP
Our staff believes that a child with a burn injury deserves the same opportunities available to all children. Camp is one way to offer children the experience of having fun, making new friends, gaining self-confidence, and enjoying summer camp like other children. Hospital employees join the campers and serve as camp counselors. This week-long residential camp program is supported by sponsoring Shriners, Shrine clubs and units, and Shrine ladies organizations.
