<P> Children's hospitals are characterized by greater attention to the psychosocial support of children and their families . Some children and young people have to spend relatively long periods in hospital, so having access to play and teaching staff can also be an important part of their care . With local partnerships this can include trips to local botanical gardens, zoo, and public libraries for instance . </P> <P> In addition to psychosocial support, children's hospitals have the added benefit of being staffed by professionals who are trained in treating children . A medical doctor that undertakes vocational training in paediatrics must also be accepted for membership by a professional college before they can practice paediatrics . These include the Royal Australasian College of Physicians RACP, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health RCPCH, and the American Board of Pediatrics . In New Zealand the RACP offers vocational training in paediatrics . Once RACP training is completed the doctor is awarded the Fellowship of the RACP (FRACP) in paediatrics . While many normal hospitals can treat children adequately, pediatric specialists may be a better choice when it comes to treating rare afflictions that may prove fatal or severely detrimental to young children, in some cases before birth . Also, many children's hospitals will continue to see children with rare illnesses into adulthood, allowing for a continuity of care . </P> <P> Prior to the 19th century hospital reforms, the well - being of the child was thought to be in the hands of the mother; therefore, there was little discussion of children's medicine, and as a result next to no widespread formal institutions which focused on healing children . There were however centres which focused on helping abandoned children and offering care in hopes that these children might survive into adulthood . Some examples include orphanages, dispensaries, and foundling hospitals . Florence's Hospital of the Innocent (Ospedale degli Innocenti) was originally a charity based orphanage which opened in 1445; its aim was to nurse sick and abandoned infants back to health . A later example and better established institution whose goal it was to help rehabilitate infants was the Foundling Hospital founded by Thomas Coram in 1741 . Foundling hospitals were set up to receive abandoned infants, nurse them back to health, teach them a trade or skill, and integrate them back into society . Coram's foundling hospital was revolutionary because it was one of the United Kingdoms first children charities . Moreover, it was largely made successful by the powerful people who donated money to the hospital . Coram's hospital would eventually be faced with the fact that the number of infants needing care outweighed their hospitals capacity . In order to accommodate the number of children in need, there were attempts to set up similar hospitals throughout the UK; they ultimately were unsuccessful due to the lack of funding . Simultaneously, dispensaries which were also funded by donations were being opened in order to provide medicine and medical attention to those who could not afford private care . Dispensaries and foundling hospitals were the earliest forms of what would later become children's hospitals . The establishing of the Foundling Hospital by Thomas Coram was a direct response to the high infant mortality rate in London, England . Although foundling hospitals acknowledged the high infant mortality rate, infant mortality would not be addressed in a wide spread way until the early 19th century when children's hospitals would begin to open in Vienna, Moscow, Prague, Berlin, and various other major cities throughout Europe . </P> <P> In America, by the mid-19th century middle - class women and physicians became increasingly concerned about the well - being of children in poor living conditions . Although infant mortality had begun to decline, it still remained a prominent issue . Social reformers blamed the emergence of the industrial society and poor parents for not properly caring for their children . In response, reformers and physicians founded children's hospitals across the country . Early children's hospitals were set up in converted houses not only to help the children transition from leaving their home to being in a hospital, but also because it was often the only space available . Early children's hospitals focused more on short - term care and treating mild illnesses rather than long - term intensive care . Treating serious diseases and illnesses in early children's hospitals could result in the disease spreading throughout the hospital which would drain their already limited resources . A serious disease outbreak in a children's hospital would result in more deaths than lives saved and would therefore reinforce the previous notion that people often died while in the hospital . </P>

When was the first children's hospital built