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| Welcome
Bulletin Board in the Adolescent Inpatient
Unit |
Child/Adolescent
Inpatient Services
Mission
Statement:
Our mission is to provide state-of-the-art
diagnostic and treatment services for children
and adolescents with a broad range of psychiatric
problems who require acute inpatient treatment.
The mental, emotional and physical development
of a child is many sided. A safe and consistent
environment is essential in order to meet
the multiple needs of this population.
Specific
areas frequently addressed during an inpatient
hospitalization may include: neurochemical
imbalances, physical and/or sexual abuse,
dysfunctional family systems, cognitive
impairments, and inability to master appropriate
socialization skills. Therapeutic interventions
are varied and are individualized based
upon the assessment of each child and family
system. Our goal is to provide efficient
diagnosis and treatment, arrange appropriate
follow-up and after hospital care, and to
assist the patient and the family to learn
behavior management skills to use in the
community.
Program
Goals and Objectives:
Our goal is to provide safe and structured
care, which facilitates growth and development
for the child or adolescent and the family.
Complete assessment, planning, intervention
and evaluation of treatment for each patient
and their family:
1.
Perform a multidisciplinary assessment of
neurodevelopmental issues, medical status,
individual strengths and difficulties, as
well as environmental issues, family strengths
and difficulties.
2.
Develop a multidisciplinary treatment plan
to address the identified issues.
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Adolescent
Patient Room |
Admission
Criteria:
1. Patients must meet the general criteria
for admission to the NC Neuroscience Hospitals
outlined in the Inpatient Psychiatry Policy
and Procedure Manual.
2.
The patient must have a primary psychiatric
illness and be in need of inpatient treatment
or comprehensive diagnostic services not
available or practical in a less restrictive
environment.
3.
Patients should be at least 5 years old
and under 18 years old.
4.
Patients should be at a developmental level
and be medically stable enough to have some
ability to participate in the unit programming.
5.
Unit conditions must be conducive to the
provision of safe, comprehensive care. (The
number of certain types of problems my be
limited. These unit-based decisions are
to be made by the nurse manager and attending
physician).
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Adolescent
Lounge |
Interdisiciplinary
Team:
An interdisciplinary approach is used to
plan and provide care for patients and their
families. What this means is that patients
see a variety of health care workers that
can relate on many different levels and
concerns. The interdisciplinary team members
include the following:
1.
Attending Child Psychiatrists
2. Psychiatry Residents
3. Nurses
4. Occupation Therapists
5. Recreation Therapists
6. Social Workers
7. Teachers
8. Psychologists, when consulted
Please
note that as UNC is a teaching hospital,
we will often have highly supervised trainees
in the above disciplines also participate
in each child’s care. The role of
medical students and other trainees does
not replace that of the physician and other
therapists.
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Adolescent
Recreation Room |
Course
of Hospitalization:
The interdisciplinary team will prioritize
goals for the hospitalization. Diagnostic
evaluations that are indicated during the
hospitalization may include:
-
organic workup (EEG, MRI, etc.)
- labwork
- psychoeducational testing
- visualmotor, fine motor testing
- speech and language evaluation
- psychological testing
- trauma evaluation
- family, environmental assessment
Medication
trials will be initiated based on diagnostic
need. Family assessments and parent education
is an integral part of the unit program
as well as the follow-up planning. Patient
and group safety is maintained. The patient
is expected to attend various groups such
as nursing social skills groups, recreational
therapy and occupational therapy, relaxation
groups, and community meetings in order
to learn needed skills and strategies to
cope in the community. Each patient will
be enrolled in our Hospital School in the
Chapel Hill-Carrboro public school system.
For more information about our Hospital
School, visit the website: http://admin.chccs.k12.nc.us/it/hospitalschool
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Sample
therapy session with Dr. Amy Ursano |
Discharge
Criteria:
Patients are ready for discharge when they
can receive safe and appropriate care in
a less restrictive setting. Since each patient’s
treatment plan is individualized, it is
difficult to state a specific length of
stay. Every effort is made to keep lengths
of stay as short as necessary to provide
quality care and allow for appropriate after
hospital care planning.
Aftercare
issues are identified early in the hospitalization
and follow-up planned. Most patients will
require treatment after discharge, which
can range from psychotherapy, and/or medication
management to wrap-around services or residential
treatment. Our social workers will work
with families and the community in discharge
planning to set up immediately available
resources and to begin the process to access
less available resources such as residential
treatment. Crisis planning is a priority
regardless of the availability of recommended
services.
For
more information about services for children
and families in North Carolina, visit http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/mhddsas/childandfamily/index.htm
and
http://www.cfsa-nc.org.
For
information and resources covering a variety
of topics concerning child and adolescent
mental health visit the website of the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
at http://www.aacap.org
and the National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill at http://www.nami.org
Information
for Referrers:
If a child or adolescent is in crisis and
requires immediate evaluation, they may
be seen in our crisis walk-in clinic located
on the first floor of the NC Neurosciences
Hospital Monday-Friday from 8 AM to 3 PM.
The crisis service number is (919) 966-2166.
Outside
of those days and hours patients will be
evaluated in the UNC Hospitals Emergency
Department in the basement of the Neurosciences
Hospital.
If
you have assessed the child or adolescent
and are interested in direct admission to
our units, please call (919) 966-2041.
To download a referral form for direct admission,
click
here.
For
information about Pediatric Consult Liaison
Services or Eating Disorders, please click
below:
»
Pediatric
Consult Liaison Services
»
Eating
Disorders
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