Memorial Hermann Sugar Land expands pediatrics with IMU, ER

Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital expanded its pediatric facilities this year to include services for emergency and critical care patients. An intermediate care unit, or IMU, with eight beds opened May 8, after a dedicated pediatric emergency room opened in February to focus on the specific emergency medical needs of children.

An IMU is a transitional unit for patients in critical condition but who do not need as much attention as those in the intensive care unit, or ICU, according to scientific and medical publisher BioMed Central. Hospital spokesperson Jade Waddy said staff felt a need was not being met to treat children who were ready to leave the ICU.

“It is a step above general medicine level patients,” she said in an email. “If a child is critical for an ICU, we would transfer [the child] to our children’s unit in the [Texas Medical Center].” Kindred Hospital in Sugar Land also has an IMU.

Pam Schaeper-Noe, director of Emergency Services for Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, said the idea for a pediatric ER has been in the works for years but only opened Feb. 17. She said evenings are the busiest for children in the emergency room, likely because that is when they are out of school.

She said the hospital averages 105 patients per day in the main ER, and about 35 children per day in the eight-bed pediatric ER.

Schaeper-Noe said the most common issues seen in the pediatric ER include upper respiratory infections, broken bones, and lacerations.

Schaeper-Noe said her hospital saw 9,499 pediatric visits in the ER in fiscal year 2015-16 and is on track to count about 10,000 such visits in FY 2016-17. Doctors can also transfer patients from Memorial Hermann’s convenient care clinic in Sienna Plantation in Missouri City to the Sugar Land pediatric ER if necessary.

Dr. Melissa Kwan said it benefits children to be seen by a pediatrician who knows to administer specific treatments.

“Kid problems are very different than adult problems,” said Kwan, a pediatrician at Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital. “It’s more concerning if a child has a fever than an adult.”