Pediatrics Transcript
Pediatrics – Peter Koetters, MD Video
Announcer: Now, here’s our reporter, Lora Windsor, with a segment for parents having to take their children to the hospital.
Visuals: Announcer is a male in a suit. He is in front of a news studio background with glass and wood panels and a large monitor with the title “American Health Journal.”
Reporter Lora Windsor: Sometimes your child will need to be admitted to the hospital so the medical team can diagnose and treat the urgent problem. We spoke with…
Visuals: The announcer is a female in a suit, introduced with the title “Lora Windsor – American Health Journal” in lower-third. In the background are rows of TV monitors playing various medical videos. The largest monitor has the title “Preparing children for the hospital” with a clip of a male doctor sitting at a kid’s table, talking to a toddler in the playroom of the Pediatric unit.
Reporter (V.O.): …Dr. Peter Koetters at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in the San Fernando Valley and asked him about conditions that would bring a child into the hospital.
V.O. visual: Close-up of Koetters, wearing a shirt, tie and white coat, being interviewed in a studio with a gray wall behind him; camera sweep of the exterior of Valley Presbyterian Hospital.
Peter Koetters, MD: The different conditions that might bring a child to the hospital vary depending on the age. Newborns in the first two months after birth are particularly susceptible to certain problems. Many babies develop some jaundice after birth which normally isn’t a big deal but if bilirubin levels…
Visual: He is introduced with the title “Peter Koetters, MD – Valley Presbyterian Hospital” in the lower-third.
Koetters (V.O.): …get high enough to be potentially dangerous, the baby may need to be hospitalized to get phototherapy, special lights that can break down the bilirubin in the skin until it reaches safe levels. Fever in a baby in those first few months is a big deal and…
V.O. visual: Camera pan of Koetter as he works at his desk on a computer; phototherapy equipment in a designated room at the hospital; newborn in an incubator in the NICU.
Koetters: …requires hospitalization, IV of antibiotics and making sure there’s not a blood stream infection, urine infection or meningitis.
Koetters (V.O.): One year olds up through about four years old have a lot of respiratory tract problems. And, those consist often of virus infections like bronchiolitis and croup or even bacterial infections like pneumonia. Again, most of those don’t need to be in the hospital but if they result in a need for…
V.O. visuals: A male doctor talks with a young mother in a cheerful pediatric hospital room while her toddler is in the bed is being attended to by two female nurses; close-up of doctor with stethoscope to the young girl’s chest; wider shot of the doctor with stethoscope on the girl’s back.
Koetters: …oxygen or the baby or child is breathing hard enough that they could tire out from having trouble breathing they could require hospitalization as well. And, the last thing, the type of problems that result in a lot of hospital visits is vomiting and diarrhea, which in young children and infants leads to dehydration more quickly because their bodies aren’t very big yet.
Visual: The title “Dr. Koetters discusses Children in the hospital” in the low-third appears.
Koetters (V.O.): But they’re usually treated just with intravenous fluids. Older children sometimes can also have abdominal pain that needs to be observed in case they might have…
V.O. visual: Koetters presses a stethoscope to a pre-teen girl’s abdomen in a pediatrics examination room.
Koetters: …appendicitis or a condition requiring surgery and accidents, which are really the leading cause of death in children, sometimes result in hospitalization…
Koetters (V.O.): …if a broken bone requires surgery, if there is head trauma or other problems like that.
V.O. visuals: Child on a gurney being loaded into an ambience by EMTs.
Francisca Uranda: My daughter had really bad stomach pains on her lower right side, which we thought it could be appendicitis.
Visual: Young mother being interviewed in studio, introduced with the title “Francisca Uranda – Daughter needed hospital care” in lower-third.
Uranda (V.O.): So I brought her right into the Emergency Room and as soon as the doctor saw her and felt her stomach, he admitted her right away.
V.O. visual: Koetters gently pressing on pre-teen girl’s abdomen as she lies on her back on the exam bed.
Uranda: I was very worried but at the same time everybody here was so nice and just so comforting letting me know…
Uranda (V.O.): …that everything was going to be OK. They actually take the time to explain everything to you step by step by step, which is actually very comforting because that way I know what’s going on and Natalie knows what’s going on.
V.O. visuals: Uranda watches from a chair in the exam room as Koetters presses the stethoscope to the chest area of her pre-teen daughter as she sits on the bed; another angle with a closer shot; Koetters checks the girl’s eyes.
Reporter (V.O.): Francisca tells us how her daughter is doing now.
Uranda: She’s actually very good and no more pains and…
Uranda (V.O.): …changed her diet. And so she’s doing really good now.
V.O. visual: Koetters, Uranda and her daughter walk up a hallway in the pediatric unit toward the camera, talking and smiling.
Koetters: Any fear about going to the hospital, is both in children and their parents. Some of it…
Koetters (V.O.) …in the children it’s simply not knowing what to expect so parents can do a great service if they are able to prepare their child a little bit before going into the hospital. So some of the things parents might be able to do before the child…
V.O. visual: Toddler with her mother and a nurse in the playroom of the pediatrics unit playing with toys; another angle of the nurse helping the happy toddler with a toy as her mother watches, smiling.
Koetters: …goes to the hospital is just introduce them to the idea of what a hospital might look like, the kind of things they might find in a hospital room, and remind them if you use pictures that it may not look exactly like the pictures because sometimes children get a little bit confused. Also, play-acting. You can sort of get them used to the idea of things that might happen in the hospital even using a doll to play act or doing it with your child one-on-one.
Koetters (V.O.): Pretending to take vital signs, even drawing blood, putting in an IV, all those things can become more playful, less foreign to the child, making them less anxious when they happen in real life.
V.O. visual: Young mother talking to Koetters in the pediatrics unit; a doctor blows bubbles with toddler sitting on a bed in the pediatrics unit.
Koetters: It’s helpful sometimes to give children options also when they’re in the hospital because they feel like they have no control and indeed they have no control over most of what goes on. So giving them control over the little things like what they might be able to eat when they have menu options or even which arm you can draw blood out of gives them some sense of control and makes them more calm.
Visual: Koetters being interviewed in the studio.
Reporter: Going to the hospital can be scary but remember the doctors, nurses and other hospital workers are there to help your child feel better. For the American Health Journal, I’m Lora Windsor.
Visuals: In the background are rows of TV monitors playing various medical videos. The largest monitor includes clips of Koetters examining the pre-teen and the other doctor in the room with the toddler. End screen has title “American Health Journal – thedoctorshow.com”
