Pediatric Inpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program
The acute inpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program at Children’s
Specialized Hospital (CSH) helps children recover after a sudden worsening
of their breathing. Children receive frequent treatments and therapies
to improve lung function and gradually reduce breathing support to their
usual level, also called their baseline.
Who Can Benefit from Inpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation?
The program cares for children with long-term or complex respiratory conditions who need ongoing care from a team of specialists. Children often enter the program after a stay in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Care focuses on reducing breathing support, improving airway clearance to remove mucus, building endurance and helping the lungs recover.
The program serves:
- Children with complex medical needs
- Children with long-term conditions who need breathing support and help clearing mucus from their airways, including those who need ongoing support from a breathing machine (mechanical ventilation)
What Are the Admission Requirements?
- Children should be medically stable or showing initial improvement after the illness or condition that caused their breathing to worsen.
- Breathing support needs should be stable or gradually decreasing. Children may still need higher settings or a different type of support than usual if they are stable or in the process of weaning (beginning short trials of their usual support level).
- Airway clearance treatments should be needed no more often than every four hours.
- CSH can care for children who use a nasal cannula (small tubes in the nose), high-flow nasal cannula, noninvasive ventilation (breathing support through a mask) or invasive ventilation through a tracheostomy (a breathing tube placed through an opening in the neck).
