Care Environments

Critical and Acute Care

Shriners Hospital for Children — Northern California provides comprehensive critical care for children with burns, neuromuscular conditions and complex post-operative orthopedic conditions. In addition, rehabilitation patients requiring mechanical ventilation may be admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit for ventilator management and potential weaning as appropriate. Our physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians are supported by pediatric intensivists 24 hours/7 days week.

Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit

The inpatient rehabilitation unit is a place for children who have experienced a significant decrease in functions of daily life such as mobility, feeding and dressing due to an injury, illness, surgery, or other medical treatment. Before admission, a physiatrist will determine if the child is currently able to benefit from an intensive rehabilitation plan requiring a hospital stay. Admission criteria to the inpatient rehabilitation:

• Medically stable for transfer/admission to Shriners Hospitals for Children — Northern California
• Demonstrate potential for improvement in quality of life and benefit from intensive medical, physical, and/or cognitive rehabilitation
• Able to participate in three hours of rehabilitative therapy, five to seven days a week
• Have a caregiver present to participate in rehabilitative program
• Have an appropriate discharge plan including destination and support after inpatient stay

Child and Family Centered Care

Shriners Hospitals for Children — Northern California offers patients and their families child centered care with unique, carefully designed features that create positive experiences. The focus is on the child as a whole person.

Our qualified Therapeutic Recreation and Child Life (TR/CL) staff provide coping strategies and distraction therapy. They work in partnership with physicians and nurses to support child care. Children who are admitted to the hospital benefit from playtime, visits with therapy dogs, music and art therapy. Support services include an onsite public school - a joint project between the Northern California Shriners Hospital and the Sacramento City Unified School District. The school provides bilingual education and support to help students continue curricula from their home school.

Intensive Outpatient Treatment Program

The healing process takes time. The child's age and stage of development at the time of injury is a large determinant in their plan of care. The Northern California Shriners Hospital's Intensive Outpatient Therapy Program allows children to continue to receive treatment from multiple disciplines in an outpatient setting. Appointments are coordinated to occur on the same day(s), with the program lasting for a few days up to a few weeks. Children receive care in a familiar place with providers who know them. Care managers help families who live far away from the facility to find lodging nearby.