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The Child Psychiatry Unit provides short-term assessment and treatment for
seriously psychiatrically disturbed children ages 5-12 inclusive. Our ten bed Unit is
located on Level 12 of University Hospital (Phone # (631) 444-1251). The unit is staffed
by a multidisciplinary team including a full time child and adolescent psychiatrist,
psychologist, as well as a social worker, psychiatric nurses and attendants. There is
also a school with 2 S.E.D. classes (teachers and assistants) which is available to
the child if the school district agrees to pay for it.
Reasons for hospitalization include:
- Diagnostically complicated cases that have either failed outpatient treatment
or are not manageable on an outpatient basis. Without knowledgeable multidisciplinary
staff observation, and subsequent informed treatment plan, such children continue
to founder with medication upon medication added and without improvement.
- Sufficiently dangerous behavior that the child requires intensive supervision and treatment.
- Sufficiently complex medical/psychiatric conditions that require the expertise
of a psychiatric unit in a medical hospital with close pediatric supervision.
A full range of psychiatric services are provided, including:
- Child psychiatric evaluation
- Health and physical assessment
- Medication management
- Psychoeducation regarding diagnosis and medication management
- Family consultation and education, including a home visit assessment and follow-up
- Psychoeducational testing
- An on-unit educational program provided by BOCES, based on an individualized
teaching plan reflective of each child's needs and abilities
- A behavioral management program designed to provide a structured milieu
in which patients increase their adaptive daily functioning and learn
to understand and accept responsibility for their behavior
- Individual and group psychotherapy
- Recreational and music therapies
- Social work services
The hospital maintains linkages with providers of special educational programs,
outpatient mental health services, partial hospitals, residential treatment facilities,
social service agencies, and other community services for children to ensure continuity
of care.
Patients may be admitted through the hospital's Comprehensive Psychiatric
Emergency Program, through the children's outpatient clinic, by transfer from
other units of University Hospital, by transfer from another psychiatric facility,
or they may be admitted directly by one of the attending faculty.
Admissions to the Child Inpatient Unit are based on physician orders for child
up to the age of 12. Contact your treating physician or the Child and Adolescent
Psychiatric Outpatient Department for an evaluation, (631) 632-8850
If this is a psychiatric emergency call our 24-hour psychiatric emergency room at (631) 444-6050.
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