Emergency Care / Trauma

ColumbiaDoctors Pediatric Emergency Medicine, also known as the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) or ED, at the NYP Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital delivers care to approximately 60,000 acutely ill and injured children annually between the ages of birth to 20 years. Our bright, expansive twenty nine thousand square foot space relocated and opened in 2011, and is situated in Washington Heights on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. 

Expertise in Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Our staff is comprised of 28 full time physicians with subspecialty training and certification specifically in pediatric emergency medicine; 16 physicians with specialization and certification in general pediatrics; 2 pediatric nurse practitioners; 2 pediatric physician assistants; more than 60 pediatric registered nurses; 20 pediatric nursing technicians as well as pediatric social workers, patient liaisons/translators, child life specialists and patient navigators, all trained and committed to making the ED experience as comfortable for children and families as it can be.  We are one of only three designated Level 1 Regional Pediatric Trauma Centers in New York, meeting the highest standards for rapid diagnosis and treatment for children. 

With training in pediatric emergency and trauma medicine, our entire staff is prepared to respond quickly to any medical crisis.  Patients in our emergency department also have immediate access to world-renowned experts in all pediatric subspecialties at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital who can be mobilized in minutes to respond to life-threatening conditions.  .

Our ED was architecturally designed to provide state-of-the-art care with 33 private treatment rooms, 2 cutting edge equipped trauma bays, on-site CT scanner, as well as specialized rooms for infection (negative pressure rooms) asthma, gynecology and invasive procedures.  Full service on-site pharmacy and clinical laboratory provide the medical staff with the infrastructure to deliver the most efficient and highest quality medical care.  

Our Approach to Emergency Medicine

We are a large, beautiful, inviting, and child-friendly Pediatric Emergency Department with faculty and staff who understand that pediatric emergencies are acutely different from adult emergencies and that quality pediatric care demands a multidisciplinary team specifically trained in treating acutely ill children.

We only see kids and we see many sick and injured children so we know what we are doing.  We recognize and validate children’s pain and we are involved in multiple initiatives to treat it quickly and painlessly.  We are the leaders, nationally and internationally, in researching, developing and implementing best practice evidence-based guidelines and utilizing new technologies to improve the care we deliver.  

We are all about kids and families.  Our spacious patient lounge and treatment rooms are innovatively outfitted with electronic video games and game tables, a multi-media interactive wall and designated storybook reading areas; our walls stand out vividly with floor to ceiling illustrations from familiar children’s literature. 

Leadership in Emergency Medicine

As an academic center, we are leaders in the field of pediatric emergency medicine and are at the forefront of research and implementation of cutting edge emergency management and treatment.  We are champions in the research of pediatric head injury, sepsis, biomarkers for pediatric urinary tract and blood-borne infections, pediatric pain control and sedation, and pediatric ultrasound.  In addition, we are committed to radiation reduction in diagnosis of pediatric conditions. 

We hold leadership positions, and are the lead site, in PECARN (Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network, the largest pediatric emergency medicine research collaborative in the country.  In the past 5 years, our division has garnered close to $8,000,000 of grant funding for ongoing research projects, with more than 90% of it from the federal government.