When your child is admitted to the hospital, you may wonder who will provide his or her care. At Norton Children’s Hospital, like many children’s hospitals across the country, we have specially trained physicians called hospitalists who care for patients admitted to the hospital. Pediatric hospitalists provide comprehensive, compassionate care for children while they are in the hospital.

Norton Children’s hospitalists work closely with you and your child’s pediatrician or health provider to help your family make decisions about your child’s care and to create a care plan for when your child leaves the hospital.

Collaboration With UofL School of Medicine for Your Child’s Care

Our providers offer highly skilled care for your child. Norton Children’s Hospital serves as the primary pediatric teaching facility for the University of Louisville School of Medicine. These doctors are professors and active researchers helping to advance medical care through clinical research and education.

What Is a Pediatric Hospitalist?

A pediatric hospitalist is a physician who focuses on the general medical care of hospitalized children. They have specialized education in how to care for children while they are in the hospital, called hospital medicine. A hospitalist usually is the attending doctor, working with all specialty services your child may need, such as orthopedics and neurology.

What Does a Hospitalist Do?

Your child may see a lot of different caregivers while he or she is in the hospital: specialist physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and more. A hospitalist takes a broad view of your child’s care. He or she looks at all of the treatments and monitors your child for changes and improvement. That way, hospitalists can help prevent medical complications, lower health care costs and even help reduce time in the hospital.

Hospitalists care for children in many parts of the hospital, including the emergency department, surgical units, medical units, newborn nursery and the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

The Norton Children’s Difference

With a 125-year presence in Louisville, Norton Children’s is a leader in pediatric care across Kentucky and Southern Indiana, providing an expanded footprint that includes:

• Norton Children’s Hospital – The region’s only full-service, free-standing pediatric hospital and Louisville’s only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center. Norton Children’s Hospital also has one of the largest Level IV (highest level) neonatal intensive care units in the country.
• Numerous regional outpatient centers and extensive pediatrician and pediatric specialist offices throughout the area.
• Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital – The only women’s hospital in Louisville, providing care dedicated to the needs of women and children.
• Norton Children’s Medical Center – A unique regional outpatient facility designed “Just for Kids,” bringing pediatric care to northeastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, and the surrounding area.

Norton Children’s offers specialized programs and services, including:

• Norton Children’s Cancer Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, and the Addison Jo Blair Cancer Care Center, which is one of the oldest oncology programs continuously accredited by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.
• Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, a pioneer in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery. Norton Children’s heart surgeons performed Kentucky’s first heart transplant in a newborn in 1986, making the hospital the second site in the United States for infant transplants. Norton Children’s Hospital is home to the Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
• Pediatric neurology and neurosurgery, including a Level 4 epilepsy center
• Orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation
• The Wendy Novak Diabetes Center