Neurosurgery

Integrated care

The human brain functions as part of an integrated, interdependent system. Each change—whether a function of disease or of treatment—can have repercussions in many other systems.

Here at Children's Hospital Boston, every program strives to view and treat the whole child. In particular, our Department of Neurosurgery participates in a few programs which truly exemplify the spirit of integrated care:

• The Stop & Shop Family Pediatric Brain Tumor Clinic—a partnership between Children's Hospital Boston and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute—surrounds young patients with specialists in every aspect of cancer care. Rather than having to shuttle a child from one appointment to the next, parents come to the Brain Tumor Clinic and meet with a team of clinicians. The team develops a management plan that accommodates both the child's individual needs and the effects of her other ongoing treatments.
  
  Specialists at the Brain Tumor Clinic include neurosurgeons, neurologists, medical and surgical oncologists, radiation therapists, radiologists, physical and occupational therapists, endocrinologists, ophthalmologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and Child Life specialists.
   
• In addition, the Children's Hospital Boston Spina Bifida (Myelodysplasia) Program, Epilepsy Program and Advanced Fetal Care Center all follow a similar model of fully integrated care.