Why Refer to Covenant Children's?

We are uniquely qualified to care for children in the West Texas/Panhandle Plains and Eastern New Mexico Region. We are constantly striving to improve the pediatric care for patients of region as can be seen in some highlights of who we are below:

The Region's first and only freestanding Children's Hospital

In addition to being licensed by CMS as a Children's Hospital, our freestanding status means our entire hospital is dedicated to the care of kids. Many hospital merely offer a smattering of pediatric services within a larger adult-focused hospital. Hospitals specifically licensed as Children's Hospitals have to have governance, operational leadership, and ancillary services that are unique to the children's hospital, ensuring that resources aren't prioritized to adult services. What this really means is that we live and breathe children's services all day, every day. We don't just dabble in it.

We believe in, whenever possible, caring for patients as close to home as possible

We don't seek to "steal" patients or absorb them into our system. When there are resources in local communities we try to keep those kids in their originating community. But when specialty needs exceed the community's availability, our specialists are available.

In keeping these patients as close to home as possible, we partner with referring providers. We grant access to ShareVue to allow providers to view the care provided to their patients by Covenant providers. We want you to be fully aware of what happened with your patient. And our physician liaisons/specialists are available for any of your needs such as setting up ShareVue access, information on Covenant specialists, access issues, or any other issue you may have with your patient's being seen at Covenant Children's.

The Region's first and only dedicated Pediatric Emergency Department with Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physicians

As a freestanding children's hospital, our ED is dedicated to pediatric patients. We see over 25,000 pediatric emergency visits a year - making our providers very comfortable dealing with pediatric emergencies.

Furthermore, we are the only facility in our region to staff our emergency department with Pediatric Emergency Medicine physicians. These specialists are trained to specifically care for kids in the ED. Unlike other regional facilities, that staff with adult Emergency Medicine physicians, Residents, and perhaps a pediatrician here or there, our entire ED staff is dedicated to pediatric care.

The Regions first and only level II pediatric trauma program

As a level II pediatric trauma center, we see over 500 pediatric trauma encounters per year. We have a number of specialists - such as pediatric trauma surgeons, pediatric orthopedic surgeons, pediatric neurosurgery physicians, etc. - on-call to respond immediately to any trauma needs.

The Regions first and only pediatric and neonatal specialty transport program

Our specialty transport team provides a pediatric RN and RT to safely transport patients. We have our own dedicated specialty ambulance that can accomodate two children, mom & baby, etc. We also partner with Aerocare to make our transport team available via helicopter and plane transport.

The Region's first and only Obstetric Hospitalist program

Our Board-Certified OB Hospitalists are in-house 24/7 to care for our obstetric patients. This ensures unattributed patients, and patients whose private physician cannot immediately respond, are seen by an obstetrician. Quality and safety are always two of our primary foci and our OB Hospitalist program evolved as we realized we needed OB Hospitalists to provide the best care possible to the women in our community.

The Region's first and only Obstetric Emergency Department

Our Obstetric Emergency Department opened in 2017. It is a first of its kind for our region. Made possible by our Obstetric Hospitalist Program, we converted our labor and delivery triage into an obstetric-specific emergency department. This ensures our maternal patients receive the highest level of care possible by ensuring they are immediately seen by a board-certified obstetrician and aren't just triaged by an OB nurse.

Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is the highest level of NICU care

In 2018, we were designated as a level IV NICU by the State of Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS). This is the highest level of designation possible and puts Covenant Children's in a group of twenty hospitals in Texas with a level IV designation. This designation requires a number of things such as board-certified pediatric anesthesiologists performing all neonatal cases, access to a number of pediatric surgical specialties, etc.

The Region's first and only Children's Hospital Association of Texas member hospital

We are one of eight children's hospitals in Texas that are members of the Children's Hospital Association of Texas (CHAT). CHAT undertakes quality initiatives and advocates on behalf of children's health for the entire state. In fact, our CEO, Dr. Amy Thompson, is the Chair of CHAT beginning in January 2020.

The Region's first and only Solutions for Patient Safety Collaborative member

Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) is a network of 135+ children’s hospitals who share the vision that no child will ever experience serious harm while we are trying to heal them. As a SPS participating hospital, we undertake work around evidence-based bundles to reduce safety events (CLABSI, CAUTI, Falls, Adverse Drug Events, Pressure Injuries, Readmissions, SSIs, Unplanned Extubations, VAP, Venous Thromboembolism). Covenant Children's has been recognized as a SPS Hospital of the Month a number of times for its work around reducing harm and providing the highest quality of care to our patients.

The Region's first and only Pediatric National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) member

The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) is the premiere pediatric surgical quality improvement program in the nation. We are 1 of 9 hospitals in Texas and 1 of 141 in the world that participate in the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Pediatric NSQIP.

We provide surgical data, including 30-day outcomes data, on specific high-risk, high-volume procedures drawn from six sub-specialty areas. NSQIP then benchmarks this data and facilitates collaboration among participating members in order to drive meaningful quality improvement.