Communicating With Your Care Team in the Hospital

Many different types of medical professionals help deliver your child’s day-to-day care in the hospital. Your hospital care team should regularly update your primary cardiologist about your child’s progress during this time.

Every morning the physicians and nurses who lead the team walk around the unit to discuss each child and make a care plan for the day. These meetings are called “rounds.” Ideally you will participate in daily rounds with the medical professionals so that you can ask questions and get updates on your child’s care. If you are unable to be there for rounds, you can ask your nurse or care team for an update any time.

Parents are encouraged to be as involved as possible with their child’s care in the hospital. You know your child better than anyone else, so you may notice something the nurse or medical team does not. When parents actively communicate with the care team, their children often end up receiving care that is better suited to them.

Rounds are an opportunity for you to talk with key members of the care team, but outside of rounds you will also need to communicate with team members responsible for different parts of your child’s care in the hospital. It will help you to learn about the different types of medical professionals and what they do for your child.

It’s important to build good partnerships with your care team. As you spend more time in the hospital, you will get more experience communicating with the care team and gradually learn who to talk with when you have a question. If you are confused or concerned about your child’s care, it might be helpful to talk with your primary cardiologist.

Your child’s care team will often include a cardiologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, resident, nurse, pharmacist, respiratory therapist, dietician, case manager, and social worker.

During the day you will typically have a general pediatric resident, cardiology nurse practitioner, or hospitalist as your child’s primary caregiver with your bedside nurse. There is always an attending physician who oversees the care of each patient. Cardiology fellows who are learning to become attending cardiologists may also help oversee the primary care team members.

At night there is generally either a cardiology fellow, nurse practitioner, or pediatric resident who works with the bedside nurse to provide care. The on-call cardiologist can always be reached to give advice on medical decisions made day or night.

On weekend days the care team is smaller as ancillary members such as dieticians and case managers do not round with each patient. Physicians are on call and round on each child during the weekend, and a nurse will always be available to answer your questions.

Directing your questions to the right person can help you get the best answer quickly. In addition to your primary inpatient care provider and attending physician, many others work to help you and your child during a hospitalization. Your child’s bedside nurse is always able to help get the right answer to your question if other team members are not immediately available.