Pediatric department

Pediatric department is one of the major departments at Patan hospital and has been existence from the inception of this institute. Over the years the department has extended subspecialty services with expertise trained at different institutes across the world. This department strives to provide quality Paediatric services and standardized training for undergraduates, postgraduates and fellowship trainees. The department has a strong Pediatric Research unit conducting several international level collaborative research on infections and vaccine preventable diseases in children.

Services

• General Pediatric Outpatient clinic
  • Specialized clinic
    • Monday- Asthma clinic/ Critical care follow up and hemato-oncology clinic
    • Tuesday- Endocrinology and Nephrology Clinic
    • Thursday – High risk (neonatal) Clinic
    • Friday- Developmental and cardiac clinic
    • Pediatric Echocardiography ( Monday and Thursday)
    • Immunization services: Sunday to Friday (except Wednesday)
  •  Inpatient services:
    • Pediatric Ward (52 beds, including Nephrology and Hemato-oncology)
    • Neonate High Dependency unit ( level II care with 8 bed)
    • Neonatal intensive care unit ( 10 beds)
    • Neonatal Nursery ( 15 beds)
    • Pediatric high dependency care unit ( 6 beds)
    • Pediatric intensive care unit (6 beds)
    • Emergency service: 24 hours

    Additional services –

    • Dialysis (Peritoneal dialysis and Hemodialysis)
    • Developmental assessment

Academic Programs

Undergraduate: MBBS (8-week rotation in Y3 and 4-week rotation in Y4)

Masters level: M.D. Pediatrics (3-year program) & MDGP (14-week rotation in PGY1)

Fellowship in Pediatric critical Care (18 month program)

Established in 2023, the Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (PCCM) Fellowship Program at Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) is the first such training program in Nepal to train pediatricians in pediatric critical care and address the acute shortage of manpower needed to provide care to critically ill children. After completion of the fellowship program, the graduates will acquire and maintain cognitive knowledge, practical skills, and attitudes necessary to provide excellent care for children with the most complex and critical conditions in emergent and intensive care settings. They will be encouraged to act as community resource for expertise in their field, and educate future generations of pediatricians.

Research

Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) has been at the forefront of advancing healthcare in Nepal through its dedicated research activities conducted through Pediatric Research Unit, significantly influencing government policies. The Paediatric Research Unit in collaboration with Oxford Vaccine Group (Oxford University, Ministry of Health and Population, Nepal pediatric society, World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi the vaccine alliance, International Vaccine Access center, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA, etc. has been conducting such studies. Some of the important studies conducted by the unit are:

• Invasive bacterial disease (IBD) surveillance, funded by WHO (since 2005 and still ongoing). Patan Hospital is the only sentinel site for IBD surveillance in the country
• PCV schedule studies: 3+0 Vs 2+1 schedule and WHO standard 2+1 schedule Vs Nepal schedule; contributing to policy decisions
• PCV impact assessment study: Evaluating the Impact on pneumonia and nasopharyngeal carriage of pneumococcal serotypes before and after PCV introduction.

The current ongoing studies are:

1. A five arm multricentric randomized trial named “optimizing DTwP-containing vaccine infant immunization schedules (Optimms)
2. A prospective observational study named “Diagnosis and Management of Febrile Illness using RNA Personalized Molecular Signature Diagnosis (DIAMONDS

Other ongoing studies:

1. Dr. Neelam Adhikari Research Grant 2023: Dr. Anil Raj Ojha: Clinical profile of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in a tertiary center
2. Dr. Neelam Adhikari Research Grant 2023- Dr. Puja Amatya: “Pulse oximeter as an
   adjunct for screening of neonatal congenital heart disease at a tertiary care center,
   Nepal”
3.  NEPAS Grant 2023: Dr. Sucharita Tuladhar: “Feasibility of early discharge of children with low risk febrile neutropenia during anti-cancer therapy.”