Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children Opens Pediatric Surgery Center

Child-Friendly Center is First of its Kind in Northern Virginia

Falls Church, VA – (March 22, 2010) – Children who come to Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children for surgery now have their own dedicated surgery center – the only one of its kind in Northern Virginia. This month the hospital opened a Pediatric Surgery Center, a child-friendly suite of rooms designed to meet the inpatient and outpatient surgical needs of children and adolescents. Watch a video to see the Center and meet our staff.

Dr. Robert Mesrobian, pediatric anesthesiologist, and Dr. Allyson Askew, pediatric surgeon, check out the equipment in the new facility.

The new Center is a licensed, Joint Commission approved facility. It includes a surgical waiting area, private consultation rooms, a pre-op holding area, operating rooms, procedure rooms and recovery rooms. A centralized nurses’ station, which allows for open communication among staff, enables nurses to directly see all of the patients. To ensure patient safety, recovery rooms are equipped with pediatric stretchers with side rails, oxygen regulators and airway equipment that is configured according to patient size and weight. The rooms are also larger than standard recovery rooms, to accommodate families.

Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children performs more than 4,000 pediatric surgeries each year. Our pediatric surgeons are trained in the latest techniques and have access to state-of-the-art technology, such as the daVinci robotic surgical system. Surgeons work with a team of anesthesiologists, physicians and nurses who are specially trained in pediatrics.

The family waiting area in the Pediatric Surgery Center.

The most common pediatric surgery performed at the hospital is an appendectomy. Other types of surgeries include:

• Cardiac
• Craniofacial
• General
• Neurosurgery
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedic
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Plastic
• Spine
• Thoracic
• Urologic

The Center will also be staffed by a certified Child Life Specialist, who works with children and their families to help ease anxiety and promote positive coping. The Child Life Specialist may help prepare children for procedures, provide distraction during procedures, and perform medical and therapeutic play.

Inova Health System is a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services, including emergency- and urgent-care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. Inova provides a healthy environment for its patients, families, visitors, staff and physicians by prohibiting tobacco use on its campuses.