Services & Specialties
Transitional Care Center

Highly Specialized Transitional Care for Complex Lung Conditions

If you have a child leaving the intensive care unit (ICU), you know that discharge day is cause to celebrate. But what if your child has a tracheostomy and needs more time and support to become stable enough to go home? And when your child is ready to come home, will you know how to care for them if they require a ventilator to help them breathe?

Preparing your child for the transition from hospital care to home care and teaching you how to manage their mechanical ventilator is at the heart of what we do here at the Transitional Care Center at Cincinnati Children's.

As part of the award-winning Pulmonary Division, we're one of only a handful of medical centers in the country that provides specific transitional care, support and education for families like yours. When your child is ready to leave the ICU, we coordinate your child's discharge and teach you how to safely manage their tracheotomy with ventilator support or noninvasive bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPap) with backup rate support. We also prepare you for all the medical needs required outside of the hospital. Our goal is to give you the tools to help your child be a kid again — in the comfort and safety of their own home.

Why Choose Us

You want the best for your child. So do we. Our team of skilled nurses and respiratory therapists deliver personalized, compassionate care that addresses the unique needs of every patient and family we serve. Your child's care plan is managed by experienced advanced practice nurses (APN) alongside our team of dedicated pulmonologists.

Highly Specialized Team of Experts

Our transitional care experts are highly trained and experienced in every facet of tracheotomy and ventilator care and education—something you can't find in most hospitals and medical centers. Our multidisciplinary team includes pulmonologists, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, dietitians, pharmacists, social workers, patient care assistants and others to meet all your child's physical, mental and emotional needs.

Small Patient–to–Specialist Ratios

Every child is special and every child is unique. We personalize care to meet your child's specific needs by maintaining small nurse-to-patient (one–to–two or one–to–three) and respiratory therapist-to-patient (one–to–four or one–to–five) ratios. Our inpatient units are on regular care floors, not critical care floors, to create a calmer, more stable environment as your child prepares to go home.

First–Class Parent Education

Helping your child become stable enough to go home is only half the equation. Preparing you to become your child’s main caregiver after discharge is the other half. Our dedicated respiratory therapist instructors will teach you (and your child, if age-appropriate) how to safely and effectively manage your child’s mechanical ventilator at home.

Family–Centered Support Services

When your child has chronic medical needs, it can affect your whole family. That's why we have social workers, chaplains, child life specialists, family relations representatives and parent partners on our team to help you manage the mental load of caring for a sick child. We can also connect you with hospital-sponsored support groups to meet other families like yours.

Coordinated, Life-Long Care

The Transitional Care Center provides continuous, lifelong care for our patients—from birth through young adulthood. We start working with families while children are in the ICU to help make the move to our transitional care unit as seamless as possible. Each family is assigned a dedicated care manager to help manage the process—and the paperwork—even after your child is discharged from the hospital. When you have questions, your care manager is your first point of contact for answers.

Commitment to Improving Quality and Access to Advanced Therapies

We are committed to doing better every day—in every way. From researching the latest advancements in treatment technology and therapies for our young patients to improving our communication and discharge processes for families, our goal is to make your life and your child's life a little bit easier.