The Department of Pediatrics of the Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital (VGHKS) provides comprehensive care for all newborns, infants, children, and adolescents. Our faculties include a full range of pediatric sub-specialists, including pediatric cardiology, gastroenterology, hematology and oncology, immunology and rheumatology, nephrology, neurology, endocrinology, neonatology, infectious disease, medical genetics and pediatric intensive care. We also cooperate with many other specialists in pediatric surgery, pediatric anesthesiology, pediatric radiology, pediatric psychiatry, pediatric dentistry, pediatric ENT and pediatric urology for caring those children in need.

 

Our faculty are also engaged in a wide variety of research studies. Writing medical articles is also an important part of residency training in our department and it makes more young doctors start to have interests in medical researches. Teaching medical students is another important task for our faculty. Our department also provides the most comprehensive and solid training program for graduates of medical school who choose pediatrics as their careers.

 

Cardiology

The Pediatric Cardiology Division is responsible for the diagnosis, treatment and ongoing management of the congenital heart diseases (CHD). We perform diagnostic procedures including echocardiograms and cardiac catheterizations and many therapeutic interventions, such as balloon valvular plasty for aortic or pulmonary stenosis, balloon angioplasty for coarctation of aorta or stenotic surgical shunt conduit, balloon atrial septostomy for critical cyanotic CHD or severe pulmonary hypertension; several CHD could also be corrected by several newly developed techniques in interventional cardiac catheterization, such as transcatheter closure of ASD and PDA, stent implantation for the stenotic vessels or coil embolization for the abnormal vessels (ex: MAPCAs).

 

Gastroenterology

Our gastroenterology division provide the best and most comprehensive care of children with gastrointestinal or liver diseases. We perform percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy for offering better nutrition to those children who have problems in oral feeding.

 

Genetics

Our division are responsible for diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care of children with various genetic or metabolic disorders. Diagnostic evaluations are performed for children and adults who are suspected of having a genetic disorder, have significant developmental delay, growth delay, dysmorphic or unusual physical features, structural birth defects, metabolic disorders or multiple system disorders. The goal of our evaluations is to arrive at a specific diagnosis that will allow us to provide information on the etiology, prognosis and recurrence risk associated with the condition. Genetic counseling is available at the conclusion of our evaluations to discuss inheritance patterns, reproductive risks, and options for prenatal diagnosis if they exist.

 

Hematology and Oncology

Our goal as pediatric oncologists and hematologist is to coordinate the efforts of the many medical specialists, including surgeons, pathologists, radiologists and social workers who work with us to help these patients. Our division provides excellent diagnostic tools to early detection and treatment of many hematological and oncologic diseases, including thalassemia, aplastic anemia, acute leukemia, lymphoma and many other malignancy in childhood.

 

Infectious diseases

Infectious diseases consist of the majority of acute diseases in children. Severe infections emerge gradually due to the presence of many immunocompromised patients in our department and the progression of nosocomial infection in recent years. Hence the spectrum of pediatric infectious diseases turns much more wide and complicated. Our clinical services are to provide comprehensive care for children with infectious diseases and avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics.

 

Neonatology

The Division of Neonatology offers medical care to newborns with all aspects of illness related to this age group. We spend 24 hours a day to care for critically ill newborns in our NBCU and are prepared for reaching any newborn in need. Consultation or referral services are available on a 24 hours a day basis. Our NICU provides best care for the prematurity infants and has become the most important referral center in South Taiwan. We linked our studies to clinical services. Establishing the ventilatory strategies in newborn, analysis of pulmonary function in infants and studies about the fetal/neonatal lung development, all are aimed at applying this results to preventing or treating neonatal pulmonary diseases.

 

Nephrology

The Division of Pediatric Nephrology is dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of children with disabling or life-threatening disorders of the kidneys and with complications of kidney disease. Common pediatric nephrologic diseases include urinary tract infections, the nephrotic syndrome, glomerulonephritis, tubular diseases, acute and chronic renal failure. Specific congenital diseases include hypoplastic kidneys, polycystic kidneys, and urinary tract obstruction. Our division is committed to providing care of the highest possible quality, to the training pediatricians and pediatric nephrologists who will carry on with this mission, and to developing further understanding and new treatments of kidney diseases.

 

Neurology

The Section of Pediatric Neurology provides comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic care for children with a variety of neurological disorders, including childhood epilepsy, developmental genetic disorders, headaches, neuromuscular disease and neurocutaneous disorders. Primary care and specialist physicians refer many children with neurological disorders to our division for further neuropsychological evaluations. Taking care for the children with developmental delay is another important focus of our services. Through the cooperation with many other specialists, we offer comprehensive care for these children requiring special education, rehabilitation and treatment.

 

Intensive care

The Division of Pediatric Critical Care provides intensive care services for children of all ages with most critical contions. We have 11 bed PICU and offers complete mechanical ventilation support, hemodynamic monitoring, post-operative cardiac and neurosurgical care, and so forth. Respiratory care is very important in intensive care, especially in children. We provide individualized care for children with airway anomalies, pulmonary insufficiency or neurological disorders. Choosing appropriate ventilator, educating family about postural drainage and chest care, and emergent treatment for some unexpected conditions are crucial before discharging the patients.

 

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