Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Dr. Steven Kairys, MPH, Chairman of Pediatrics, Jersey Shore University Medical Center

As Chairman of Pediatrics at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Steven Kairys, M.D., MPH, considers his primary objectives taking care of children and improving the lives of children in the community and throughout New Jersey. A member of Meridian Health Family, the Jersey Shore University Medical Center is the only center in the area that provides a complete range of services for the children in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Children in this two-county area can seek quality health care services close to home rather than travel to larger cities for secondary and tertiary services. Jersey Shore recently received accreditation from the New Jersey Department of Health to be designated one of the eight children's hospitals in New Jersey.

Working in a university medical center environment, Dr. Kairys chairs the pediatric department. "In a private practice," Dr. Kairys commented, "you see 40 to 50 patients a day. After that, there are limited hours to accomplish more. I have always enjoyed all parts of medicine and can do that best at a university or medical center level. This allows the flexibility to develop services for the community, supplement area pediatric practices and be involved with child abuse and child protection work."

Along with satellite offices in Brick and Red Bank, Jersey Shore University Medical Center Pediatrics focuses on taking care of children with chronic diseases, behavioral issues and developmental issues. Thirty-five physicians provide specialty pediatric services ranging from intensive care nursery, critical care, GI, hematology, infectious disease, endocrinology, pulmonology, sports medicine and neurology and developmental pediatrics for the area's children. Easily accessible facilities located along major routes remove transportation barriers for families at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

Responding to pockets of need in the community, Dr. Kairys developed numerous services in the Children's Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and attempted services not previously available in Monmouth or Ocean Counties. "We have been trying to be very responsive to the needs of the community in an effort to improve the quality of care offered to families," remarked Dr. Kairys. Full time general pediatricians teach the residents and see children at Jersey Shore University Medical Center's family health center, which serves children in foster care, Medicaid, uninsured and underprivileged situations. A comprehensive asthma program that includes community education and support for families with asthma issues is being developed. Centers for excellence are also being created for children with epilepsy, and children with diabetes. Services for obesity and weight issues, using GI and endocrinology expertise, are being added for the community. A "Conscious Sedation" program has been developed that helps children who need procedures have them done painlessly, without anesthesia.

The Children's Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center addresses the ever-growing developmental problems families and communities face, such as children with major behavioral issues, school issues, autism and autistic behavior, and children in abusive, stressful, neglectful and dysfunctional families. The Meridian Web site has a parent, child and teen bilingual information system called KidsHealth(R), produced by a high quality educational partner and the site contains a wealth of information that helps parents, children and teenagers with health literacy and school projects.

Dr. Kairys uses innovative methods to improve the way that pediatric primary care is practiced by working with private practices to help them improve services for immunization, lead testing, child abuse, neglect, developmental issues, and day care and increase their capacities to offer more comprehensive care to patients and families. "Through the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, we meet with the office staff, nurses, and front desk and link the practice to the community person, like a child abuse worker, to try and break down barriers between the practice and community. We started with Mercer and Middlesex Counties and have expanded to Monmouth and Ocean Counties," Dr. Kairys commented.

Practices often lack a reminder recall mechanism to track and follow children who need lead testing or immunization services. An option available to physicians is to tie into the state registry as a way to help manage their pediatric population. Dr. Kairys remarked, "Even though private practices are a part of the community, pediatricians are busy seeing 40 to 50 children daily. This leaves little time for practices to know about the resources their communities offer, such as good day care or who the child protection workers or lead representatives of the health departments are for their areas. We work with them to help them connect with community and state resources to provide quality of care for children. "

As the chair of the Pediatric Council on Research and Education of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Kairys' efforts to reduce child abuse start with changing a physician's behavior and going beyond education to community-based efforts that focus on system change. In his role as principal investigator on the national Practicing Safety Project, Dr. Kairys attempts to work with private practices in pediatrics and tries to improve their abilities to increase screening and anticipatory guidance and prevent child abuse and neglect in the 0-3 age populations. Dr. Kairys elaborated, "A process is in place within six New Jersey practices to introduce new modules in the well-child visit that encourage physicians to screen and actively talk about issues from a preventive standpoint. Rather than depend on parents to mention that they are having a problem with their children or to say they themselves are depressed, practices take a proactive approach and engage parents in a meaningful discussion about aspects of parenting that induce stressful situations like shaking their babies. At well-child visits, physicians can determine if the child's crying is normal or not and offer coping strategies for parents." Dr. Kairys hopes to expand this pilot program to more private practices with the goal of showing it actually makes a difference for families.

Focusing on community, state and national child health care strategies, Dr. Kairys succeeds in providing quality health care for thousands of children at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center and throughout New Jersey.