Paediatrics

Introduction to the Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University

The Department of Pediatrics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University was established in September 2024. It is a distinctive specialty that the hospital is prioritizing for development, integrating medical care, teaching, scientific research, neonatal treatment, and child health care. Drawing on the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, which has more than 60 years of deep historical heritage and strong overall medical capabilities, the department takes “Carrying forward the spirit of the Westward Migration and safeguarding children’s health” as its mission. It is committed to providing newborns and children in the region with safe, standardized, high-quality medical and health-management services. The department’s core feature is integrated obstetric-neonatal care, through which it provides integrated maternal-infant management, combines obstetric and neonatal resources, optimizes perinatal medical workflows, and provides high-risk pregnant and postpartum women and newborns with continuous, refined diagnostic and treatment services throughout the entire care process.

Medical and Nursing Workforce

The Department of Pediatrics has a well-structured medical and nursing team with strong professional competence. The department currently has 38 medical and nursing personnel, including 16 physicians, 20 nurses, and 2 other professional and technical personnel. All members of the physician team have master’s degrees, doctorates, or higher academic qualifications. The core members are drawn mainly from Chongqing Medical University’s pediatric medicine system and carry forward the rigorous, standardized diagnostic and treatment philosophy of a national key discipline. All members of the nursing team have bachelor’s degrees or higher and possess solid experience in specialized pediatric nursing. The team’s main research directions focus on neonatal diseases, the diagnosis and treatment of common diseases in children, and basic and clinical translational research related to child health care. In recent years, the team has secured multiple research projects, published multiple academic papers, and developed a solid theoretical foundation and extensive clinical experience.

Scope of Diagnosis and Treatment and Featured Techniques

The Department of Pediatrics has outpatient services and an independent inpatient ward. It has already established a relatively comprehensive range of pediatric examinations and diagnostic and treatment services, meeting the needs of neonatal diagnosis and treatment and child health management. Its main featured techniques include:

- Neonatal resuscitation and joint maternal-newborn emergency rescue techniques under the integrated obstetric-neonatal management model; - Monitoring and assessment of neonatal jaundice; - Neonatal hearing screening and fundus screening; - Neonatal brain-function and cardiac-function monitoring; - Inhaled nitric oxide treatment; - Neonatal mild hypothermia treatment; - Airway management using video laryngoscopy; - Monitoring of children’s growth and development and health guidance.

The department has accumulated extensive experience in diagnosing and treating common conditions, including neonatal pneumonia, neonatal jaundice, and fever, cough, and diarrhea in children, as well as in the care and treatment of preterm infants. It also specializes in the standardized management and rescue treatment of high-risk newborns, as well as child health care. Under the integrated obstetric-neonatal approach, the neonatal ward works closely with the Department of Obstetrics to provide whole-process management encompassing prenatal consultations for high-risk pregnancies, intrapartum resuscitation support, and integrated treatment in the postpartum period. This has significantly improved treatment success rates for preterm infants, infants with asphyxia, and others. In response to the complex types of diseases affecting newborns and children and their rapidly changing conditions, the department actively promotes multidisciplinary collaboration, conducting joint consultations with the hospital’s imaging, laboratory medicine, ultrasound, nutrition, and other departments and continuously improving its ability to provide rescue and treatment for children with difficult and critical conditions.

Child Health Management and Health Care Services

In addition to disease diagnosis and treatment, the department also provides child health care and health management services. Guided by the integrated obstetric-neonatal approach, it provides continuous health management from pregnancy through the postpartum period and into childhood, including:

- Follow-up management of high-risk newborns; - Child health examinations; - Growth and development assessment; - Child nutrition guidance; - Immunization counseling.

The department places equal emphasis on disease prevention and treatment and on health promotion, providing continuous health management services from the neonatal period through childhood.

Discipline Development and Collaboration

Drawing on the hospital’s strong disciplinary resources, the Department of Pediatrics actively collaborates and exchanges expertise with national key clinical specialties and renowned pediatric centers, promoting continuous improvement in clinical diagnosis and treatment. The department continuously explores new technologies and new models, gradually building an integrated service system for pediatric disease diagnosis and treatment and health management. It strives to fill gaps in specific areas of regional pediatric medical services and contribute to improving the health of children in the region.

Guided by “Health is entrusted to us, and life is entrusted to us” and “Life comes first, and medicine is practiced with benevolence,” all medical and nursing personnel of the Department of Pediatrics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University regard safeguarding health and caring for life as their duty. With a professional commitment to continuous improvement, they provide patients with safe, high-quality services.

Academic Leaders

Qi Hongbo, Chief Physician, Professor (Grade II), Doctor of Medicine, and doctoral supervisor. He is Director of the International Cooperation Joint Laboratory for Reproduction and Development of the Ministry of Education, Chair-elect of the Perinatal Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, and Vice Chair of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association. His titles and honors include the “National Distinguished Physician” title in the inaugural Medical High-Level Talent Program; national-level candidate in the New Century Hundred-Thousand-Ten-Thousand Talent Project; National Young and Middle-Aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions; Young and Middle-Aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions of the National Health Commission; expert receiving a Special Government Allowance from the State Council; Lead Expert of a Chongqing Municipal Chief Expert Studio; Chief Medical Expert of Chongqing Municipality; one of Chongqing Municipality’s first-batch Medical Leading Talents; Leading Talent of Chongqing’s Hundred-Thousand-Ten-Thousand Project; Science and Technology Worker with Outstanding Contributions in Health and Health Care of Chongqing Municipality (first cohort); and Model Worker and Advanced Worker of Chongqing Municipality (fifth cohort).

Zhang Hua, Chief Physician, Professor (Grade II), Doctor of Medicine, and doctoral supervisor, is the Chinese-side person in charge of the national “Higher Education Institutions Discipline Innovation and Talent Introduction Program (111 Program)—Maternal-Fetal Medicine Innovation and Talent Introduction Base” and was selected for the title of “Leading Talent of Chongqing’s Hundred-Thousand-Ten-Thousand Project.” Zhang Hua currently serves as a member of the Nutrition and Metabolism Group of the Perinatal Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association; a member of the Expert Committee of the Maternal-Fetal Group of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association; a member of the Professional Committee for High-Risk Pregnancy Management of the China Maternal and Child Health Association; Chair of the Perinatal Medicine Branch of the Chongqing Medical Association; and Vice President of the Perinatal Physicians Branch of the Chongqing Medical Doctor Association.

Liu Yin, Associate Chief Physician, is a member of the Neonatal Physicians Branch of the Chongqing Medical Doctor Association, a member of the Neonatology Group of the Chongqing Medical Association, a member of the Professional Committee for Maternal and Infant Safety and Health of the Chongqing Maternal and Child Health Association, a council member of the Child Health Branch of the National Health Industry Enterprise Management Association, and a member of the Western Pediatric Alliance Touring Lecture Team. Liu Yin was recognized as an Outstanding Academic Worker by the University of Papua New Guinea, served as a pediatrician on China’s 13th medical team assisting Papua New Guinea, and concurrently served as head of the Newborn Group of the Papua New Guinea Pediatric Association. Liu Yin received the “50th Anniversary Contribution Award of the Papua New Guinea Pediatric Association,” the “Touching Chongqing Special Award,” and the “Outstanding Medical Worker” title.

Qi Hongbo; Zhang Hua; Liu Yin.