Ambulatory & Emergency Paediatrics
The Paediatric Ambulatory Care Unit at Tygerberg Hospital (TBH) provides a combination of emergency, non-acute and inpatient care. It consists of acute paediatric emergency referral facilities with a 24 bed short stay admission ward, as well as facilities to provide chronic disease management and non-acute general paediatric diagnostic support. Patients arrive from home, general practitioners, Primary Health Clinics, Community Health Clinics/Day Hospitals in the Tygerberg sub-district area, as well as District Hospital Emergency Care Centers in the larger Metro East, West Coast and Winelands/Overberg areas.
As the access point for children referred from primary care facilities and district hospitals, the unit has close links with both the district health services and the sub-specialist paediatric services based at TBH.
The Unit further serves as the training facility for the University of Stellenbosch Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The Paediatric Ambulatory Care Unit, as part of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, is one of the main platforms for general paediatric training in both undergraduate and postgraduate educational programs.
The General Paediatric Ambulatory Care Unit functions include:
A. Strengthening and Support Child and Newborn Health Services in Metro East through:
- Direct Patient Care
- Emergency services at TBH
- Outpatient General Paediatric Specialist services for chronic care and diagnostic support
- Outreach clinics to Metro East District primary care facilities
- Brooklyn Chest TB Hospital
- Clinical & Corporate governance activities
- Mortality & Morbidity meetings
- Health system/Organizational support to the District Health teams
- Input in health policy and planning,
- Strengthening of referral pathways between services and disciplines,
- Provision of Evidence based Paediatric Treatment guidelines
- Strengthening of child rights friendly health services (child advocacy)
B. Provision of General Paediatric Health Professions Education through:
- Teaching, training & mentoring of healthcare workers, under- & post-graduate students
- Exchange programs for elective students from other medical institutions
C. Conducting Research to inform and enable implementation of best practices through:
- Master students' research thesis development and implementation
- Ongoing health system strengthening, clinical outcome and health education research projects
D. Monitoring & Evaluation/Audit activities
