Department of Pediatrics is one of the largest pediatric services in Jordan. It provides the main tertiary pediatric services in the norht of Jordan where more than 1500,000 inhabitants.

Scope of pediatric department

Our pediatric department serves children who are cared at the KAUH. More than 10 faculty pediatric sub-specialists constitute the full-time pediatrics faculty. We also have 2 part time cardiologists The department provides nearly 15,000 ambulatory visits per year and more than 6300 pediatric patients are admitted to the 84 inpatient beds annually including 28 neonatal intensive care unit beds and 10 pediatric intensive care beds. We have 46 beds general floor for other subspecialty and general pediatrics. Our outpatient service has three consultant rooms and 18 examining room capable of running 6 clinics per day from 8am till 4 pm. Our service is supported by a strong residency teaching program that accepts 6-10 residence per year in 4-year program.    

The Department of Pediatrics is recognized nationally for excellence in teaching, clinical service, and research related to childhood diseases. Pediatrics faculty are among the nation's best trained, as reflected in their authorship of basic and clinical research in international pediatric journals, receipt of research funds and training grants, election to leadership positions in pediatrics Jordanian Medical Council and active participation in national conferences. PICU meets the special medical, emotional and social needs of the sickest children and their families with great compassion and skill. Many patients come to the pediatric intensive care unit transferred from other hospitals in north of Jordan. The Division of Neonatology provides advanced tertiary care for the smallest and sickest newborns. The state-of-art, 28-bed NICU at the KAUH is the largest in the country. The division collaborates with other peripheral hospital in north of Jordan and receive sick newborn patients at our unit.

We also provide to the north of Jordan unique services in pediatric cardiology including two-dimensional echocardiography color flow. A dedicated pediatric catheterization laboratory is the site for state -of-art therapeutic interventions. Comprehensive fetal ultrasound by fetal maternal sub specialist makes the department a leader in the field. We also provide diagnosis and treatment to common pediatric oncology disease supported by lab services, blood bank and pathology department. We are unique in the region for providing subspecialty services in pediatric infectious disease and immune deficiency disorder as well as active participation in major Jordanian committees in infectious disease issue of vaccination, Polio control and Avian flu national committee. Our department has also inpatient and outpatient services in pediatric gastro-enterology, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric nephrology as well as pediatric neurology with state-of-the-art pediatric electrophysiology lab providing EEG, EMG, Nerve conduction study. Although we provide simple work up and we direct patient referral in problems that we do not have sub-specialist for, we are looking forward to expand our service to include transplant services, and pediatric advance genetics by sending more pediatrician to get training in these fields outside Jordan. All this makes us the only referral pediatric serves for the whole north of Jordan

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Graduate Education program coordinates the graduate residency training in a carefully balanced program of primary care and tertiary care residency. We prepare resident for careers in primary care medicine as well as for competitive fellowship positions. In addition to the training program in categorical pediatrics, training programs for doctor in the region accepting 2 residents per year (from Iraq, Yemen, Syria…).  A structured, didactic curriculum complements the Jordanian broad clinical training. Formal teaching conferences as well as informal teaching rounds combined to enhance the educational process. Residents are certified in neonatal life support and are exposed to advance life support course by serial lectures in this field. This gives us strength in running neonatal resuscitation and to be part of CPR code team. The program is fully accredited by Jordanian medical Council for Graduate Medical Education. We are looking in the future to expand our education to include several subspecialty fellowships.

UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION

5th year Pediatric faculty participate in the Introduction to Clinical Practice Curriculum. During this experience, students begin to learn the art of clinical medicine through patient interviews and observation in various clinical sites.

5th and 6th Year
Each student spends a total of 10 weeks in pediatrics in 5th year and 8 weeks as 6th year. The goal of this experience is to provide students with an exposure to preventive care through child health supervision as well as an exposure to common problems and illnesses. Students learn to provide developmentally appropriate care for the whole child in the context of the family unit. This is accomplished through clinical experiences in primary care clinics and practices, specialty clinics, nursery and inpatient unit. A specially designed didactic curriculum and case discussion series, with faculty tutors, enhance and solidify the clinical experience.

In Summary

So, the scope of our department is medical care, education, research as well as active participation in national plans for medical and educational development.  

Most common diagnosis:

General pediatrics and subspecialties

Asthma, Gastroenteritis, acute chest infections, sepsis, meningitis, Jaundice, seizure, cystic fibrosis, failure to thrive, UTI, constipation, hydrocephalus, congenital anomaly, neuromuscular disorder, immune deficiency, malignancy, febrile neutropenia, malabsorption, Nephrotic syndrome, nephritis, anemia, thrombocytopenia, liver disorders, thyroid disorder, diabetes millets, adrenal disorder, electrolyte imbalance, growth hormone deficiency.

Neonatology:     

Respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal sepsis, hypoglycemia, congenital anomalies, chromosomal disorder, congenital heart disease, extreme prematurity, neonatal jaundice, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, birth trauma, meconium aspiration syndrome.

Pediatric ICU

Severe Asthma, severe chest infection, hepatic encephalopathy, renal failure, head Trauma and RTA, post-surgery care, status epileptics, severe sepsis, end stage system failure, advance sick cardiac disease, diabetic ketoacidosis

Most common procedures

Lumbar puncture

Umbilical lines placement

Intubations of Neonate

Intubations of older children

Surfactant administration

Suprapubic Catheterization

Exchange transfusion

Chest tube placement

Central line placement

Liver biopsy

Renal biopsy

EEG

EMG

Botulinum toxins

Upper and lower endoscopies (diagnostic and therapeutic)

Esophageal varices sclerotherapy and banding

Esophageal dilatation

Removal of foreign bodies

Removal of polyps

pH monitoring

Manometric studies

Administration of chemotherapy (IV or intrathecal)

Urinary catheterization

Atrial septestomy

Bone marrow biopsy and aspiration