Inpatients include children and young adults admitted to Rady Children's Hospital for diagnostic evaluations, medical treatments, interventional catheterization, and/or cardiac surgery. The largest single group of patients is comprised of patients who require cardiac surgery. The cardiac surgeons at Rady Children's Hospital perform over 350 operations per year.

Inpatients under the care of our cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Intermediate Care Unit (IMU), or medical/surgical ward. Both intensive care units are staffed by physicians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Cardiac-trained neonatologists provide the primary care for patients in the 42 bed NICU. Cardiac-trained intensive-care pediatricians provide primary care for patients in the 24 bed PICU. Admission to the NICU or the PICU is determined by patient age and size. Some patients are transferred to the 20 bed IMU when they no longer require intensive care. Infants usually remain in the NICU for their entire stay and are typically discharged to home from there.

Our cardiologists and cardiac surgeons supervise the inpatient care of all cardiac patients during the entire hospitalization. Our cardiologists provide primary care for all cardiac patients in the IMU and medical/surgical wards.

Additionally, the cardiologists at Rady Children's are available for consultation throughout the hospital, as well as in associated institutions such as Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women and the UCSD hospital in Hillcrest.