Acute Care Service
Children’s Specialized Hospital
For over 125 years, Children’s Specialized Hospital has been the nation’s leading provider of inpatient and outpatient care for children from birth to 21 years of age facing special health challenges – from chronic illnesses and complex physical disabilities like brain and spinal cord injuries, to a full scope of developmental, behavioral, and mental health concerns.
Our pharmacy team consists of 27 employees spread across two pharmacy departments. The Acute Rehabilitation hospital location in New Brunswick is our central location, with another pharmacy located in the Mountainside facility that services our two Pediatric Long Term Care residential facilities. These pediatric pharmacists are fluent in pediatric dosing of all medications, and utilize the most recent evidence-based literature to support pediatric medication use. Not only do they verify medication orders for the patients in the three facilities, they work closely with the prescribers to complete medication reconciliation on all patients being admitted from home or from sending facilities.
Pharmacists also provide anticoagulation monitoring and dosage recommendations as well as pharmacokinetic consults. Our pharmacy team is extremely focused on patient safety, and is involved in daily compounding and dispensing of solid and liquid medications in their most ready to use form for our smallest and youngest of patients. The pharmacy team also supports the nursing staff in their safe administration of these medications by providing a comprehensive medication profile for each patient and works closely with our nurses to determine medication administration times appropriate for their patients’ therapy and daily activity schedule. Discharge counseling is provided to each family to ensure the safe transition to home with regard to their medication regimen.
Our pharmacists are integral members of the patient’s clinical team and are very involved with providing clinical interventions centered on Antimicrobial Stewardship, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Chronic Pain Management and TPN/Nutrition related administration. We precept students from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University every month, and are honored to have seven student technicians working in order to enhance their didactic training with on the job learning at our hospitals. At 15 individual New Jersey inpatient and outpatient locations, our pediatric specialists partner with families so that all children can reach their full potential.