Our Services

Packard Children's Pediatric Trauma Service provides seamless coordination between multiple medical and surgical services tailored to meet individual patient needs. Part of this coordination includes special focus on pain management and stress relief, and other services to support children and families.

Trauma Care Begins with Pain Relief

At Packard Children's, we're experts in treating pain. We apply a range of interventions to reduce physical discomfort for your child every step of the way. Topical skin anesthetics and icing sprays before blood draws and the use of skin adhesives instead of stitches are just the beginning. Pain medications that can be inhaled through the nose and the safest anesthesia procedures allow us to reduce not just pain, but also the anxiety your child may experience with trauma. Family-centered care is central to successful treatment. We partner closely with families as members of our care team, so that your observations about your child can help us provide the very best pain relief throughout your child's treatment and recovery.

Beyond Physical Pain: Alleviating Stress

When pediatric trauma patients are brought in by ambulance or helicopter, they often arrive in the Emergency Department before their parents do. To make sure they feel safe, secure and in good company, our Child Life specialists step in immediately to help comfort and support them before, and after, their parents arrive. Staying close to the patient at the head of the trauma bed, our Child Life specialists engage the child directly by talking to them and reassuring them. While physicians and nurses provide care, the Child Life specialist provides a point of focus for the child, and a friend at their side.

Even after parents arrive, and throughout treatment, Child Life specialists provide education, support and stress-reduction techniques for procedures common in the Emergency Department. They are specially trained to explain tests and treatments at level appropriate for each child's developmental age.

When a stay in the hospital means missed days at school, children may worry about falling behind or missing their community of friends. To support the emotional wellbeing and academic needs of each child, the Palo Alto Unified School District provides a free public education program for patients right inside the hospital, either at the hospital school or at the patient's bedside if they are unable to attend.

Trauma Prevention

Virtually all trauma can be prevented. Packard Children's partners with Kohl's For Kids and SAFE KIDS to prevent injury through the proper use and fitting of carseats, bicycle safety and helmets, pedestrian and fall safety.

Treatment of Traumatically Injured Expectant Mothers

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is one of only a handful of children's hospitals nationwide that includes antepartum, labor and delivery, and maternity care all under the same roof. For traumatically injured expectant mothers, we offer comprehensive trauma care in conjunction with care by our Obstetric staff. We provide fetal monitoring to injured mothers and, should her baby deliver early or need medical support, our nationally recognized Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is fully staffed around the clock.