Direct Admissions to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland's medical staff members may admit patients to our Oakland hospital directly from their offices. For direct admissions, call the Pediatric Access Center.

The Pediatric Access Center is open 24 hour a day, seven days a week. We will connect you with the appropriate specialist within our Emergency Department, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Our Transfer Center can make all necessary arrangements for transport and admission.

Admission process

As part of the admission process, you'll be asked to provide the following information:

• Patient's name, date of birth and gender
• Diagnosis
• Isolation requirement
• Allergies
• Patient's complaint
• Presenting signs and symptoms
• Referring physician's initial plan of care
• Where the patient is coming from
• Anticipated time of arrival
• If the referring physician will be the attending or would like the hospitalist to attend
• Referring physician's phone number
• The contact name and phone number for additional insurance information (parent/guardian, etc.)

Depending on the pediatric service or department, additional information may be needed. After this basic information is received by the Admissions Department, the call will be transferred to the hospitalist on call (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) for information about evaluation and treatment.

Admit location

The direct-admit hospitalist will inform the referring physician whether the patient will be admitted to Oakland's main hospital or the pediatric unit on the Summit campus. If bed availability is uncertain, the direct-admit hospitalist will notify the nursing supervisor. The nursing supervisor will call the referring physician with updated information as soon as possible.