Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine

History

The following are highlights from the history of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The information in bold text indicates specific milestones for the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. Learn more about Children's Hospital's mission and historic "firsts."

1855 Founding of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as the first hospital in the USA devoted exclusively to children.
1938 Development at Children's Hospital of the Isolette®, the first incubator for newborns.
1962 First neonatal intensive care unit in the USA for life-threatening surgical problems and medical disorders.
1965 First balloon catheter (Rashkind catheter) used for treatment of infants with cyanotic heart defects.
1967 First Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in the USA, established by the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine.
1972 Development of one of the USA's first centers for craniofacial surgery for children. Creation of plastic surgery techniques for repair of cleft lips and palates.
1973

A helicopter transport system for critically ill and injured children was inaugurated at CHOP.
1974 Relocation of CHOP to its fourth and current site (34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard).
1975 First intensive respiratory rehabilitation care unit in the USA for ventilator dependent children, established by the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine.
1979 First statewide home care program for ventilator assisted children in the USA, established by the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
1983 CHOP becomes Pennsylvania's first Pediatric Regional Resource Trauma Center.
1994 The 20-bed Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) opens to meet the needs of infants, children and adolescents with heart disease.
1995 The Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment is established to provide integrated, multidisciplinary care for mothers carrying a fetus with a known birth defect.
1998 The Divisions of Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery and Cardiac Anesthesiology join together to form the Cardiac Center, an integrated, multidisciplinary collaboration designed to provide comprehensive services to children of all ages with all forms of heart disease.
2001 CHOP began a currently ongoing $1.2 billion expansion program that will double the hospital's size to support growth of patient care, research, and teaching to include expanded bed capacity, space for renovated and new operating rooms, clinical laboratories, a new pediatric imaging center and additional diagnostic and support space and ten additional floors on the Pediatric Research Center, adjacent to the Hospital.
2003 CHOP named the best pediatric hospital in the United States by a comprehensive Child magazine survey and US News & World Report review.
2005 CHOP celebrated its 150th anniversary.
2007 CHOP named the best pediatric hospital in the United States for the 5th consecutive year by US News & World Report.
2008 The Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment will open as the world’s first birth facility exclusively for mothers carrying babies with known birth defects.
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