Patient Care

Support when your family needs it most

In the Department of Pediatrics at Dalhousie University, we believe strongly in helping to take care of our communities. The department supports this mandate in three ways:

  • by supporting research that enhances the quality of care provided by our region’s hospitals and pediatric community
  • by providing a high-quality education to future pediatric specialists
  • by supplementing hospital staff with our residents

Caring for kids

We’re closely connected with the IWK Health Centre, the only dedicated children’s hospital in the Maritimes. The IWK serves the Atlantic provinces, providing care to over two million residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and some subspecialty populations from Newfoundland.

Annually, the hospital provides the following care:

  • 57,000 inpatient days of care to 15,000 patients from Nova Scotia
  • 7,000 patient days of care to over 1,000 New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland patients
  • 5,000 babies are delivered
  • 27,000 visits to the Children’s Emergency Department
  • 240,000 ambulatory visits for children and women (excludes day surgery and emergency)

In addition to our work at the IWK, we’re also committed to providing care “closer to home.” We work towards that goal by providing more than 200 days in outreach throughout the Maritimes every year, and by working closely with pediatricians, family doctors and other health care professionals in the child's home community.