Hunstad Joins Pediatric Diagnostic Center Team

David Hunstad, MD, an infectious diseases attending physician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH), has joined the medical team of the hospital’s Pediatric Diagnostic Center. According to James Keating, MD, MSc, director of the Diagnostic Center, Dr. Hunstad broadens the expertise available to patients with complex diagnoses.

“Dr. Hunstad’s knowledge of infectious diseases complements Dr. Andy White’s work as a pediatric rheumatologist and immunologist, and my background in gastroenterology and intensive care,” he says. “The three of us have worked together for more than 15 years at Children’s Hospital, and we will continue this synergy in order to provide quality care to referring physicians’ patients.”

The Pediatric Diagnostic Center provides comprehensive evaluation, diagnosis and treatment services to infants, children and adolescents with complex or mysterious problems.It is an innovative outpatient resource that assists general pediatricians, family practitioners and SLCH staff members in the prompt assessment of patients with a broad variety of complaints, particularly those who fit poorly into a single subspecialty area.The center serves patients who require diagnostic work requiring a medical center setting and those who pose a “diagnostic dilemma.”

“A guiding principle for the center is that for each child seen, there is a benefit to the child and his or her family,” says Dr. Keating. That goal is accomplished by providing:

• Efficient access to the clinical and scientific resources of Children’s Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine and BJC HealthCare for children who will benefit from specialty pediatric and/or surgical care.
• Rapid and comprehensive assessment of any problem affecting a child’s well-being.
• Physician and family education when appropriate.
• A centralized database and diagnostic plan for children with complex and undifferentiated problems.
• Exemplary documentation of care transmitted to the referring physician and family.
• Benefits of-state-of-the-art, computer-supported diagnostic aids and patient data management tools.

“We aspire to combine the best of traditional methods—interviewing, physical examination, telephone follow-up to parents, pre-visit planning—with the enhancements of current technology like electronic medical records, rapid transcription and on-line editing, literature searches and feedback to in-house consultants and referring physicians,” says Dr. Keating.“We evaluate almost 400 patients per year in the center, and coordination of other physician consultation services is required in 40 percent of the patients seen. Ten percent become long-term patients of one or more pediatric subspecialty and/or surgical groups in our institution.”

To refer a patient to the Pediatric Diagnostic Center, contact Children’s Direct at 800.678.HELP (4357).