WK South is the home of Willis-Knighton's children's services, housing the PICU, Level III NICU, a dedicated pediatric floor, and a full roster of pediatric subspecialists. All pediatric inpatient and subspecialty care is consolidated on this campus, which means the incoming pediatric neurologist will walk into an already-functioning pediatric infrastructure rather than building relationships from scratch. The missing piece is neurology, and the demand for it has been accumulating for nearly a decade.
The PICU team manages acute and emergent pediatric presentations, including seizures presenting overnight. The incoming neurologist will not be expected to cover routine inpatient neurology emergencies after hours. Estimated call volume is two to three physician contacts per week.
The Level III NICU at WK South handles neonates from 24 weeks gestation and accepts transports from facilities at 34 weeks gestation and above. Neonatal and infant neurology consults originating from the NICU represent a meaningful portion of the anticipated inpatient caseload and will be an important part of the new program's inpatient scope.
Estimated inpatient consult volume based on current referral leakage is approximately 150 to 200 cases per year across the PICU, NICU, and general pediatric floor. This figure is expected to grow as local referral patterns shift toward WK once a neurologist is on staff.
A blank shell clinic space is available at WK South for buildout. The physician shapes the program's scope, layout, equipment needs, and staffing from the start. WK administration has a track record of approving resource requests when subspecialists come with specific plans. The peds endo model at WK is the clearest reference point: that physician built a solo practice from zero and reached approximately 10 patients per day by the end of year one, growing to roughly 16 per day on Mondays thereafter.
WK South serves as the system's hub for pediatric care in the region. Subspecialty services available on or adjacent to this campus include:
No formal coverage program currently exists for pediatric neurology. Interim options while the program is being established include LSU Health and telephone consult arrangements. Building a coverage protocol will be part of the program setup process in year one.
The WK South campus draws from a catchment area of approximately one to two million people across northwest Louisiana, southern Arkansas, east Texas, and parts of Mississippi. No other pediatric neurology program operates at this level in the region. The nearest alternative carries a six to seven month wait. The incoming physician will be the sole local option for a large and underserved pediatric population.
Dr. Minh Tran (PICU Director, formerly UCSF) is the primary internal advocate for this program and has been at WK for ten years. He has committed to protecting the incoming physician from being overextended and will serve as a close clinical partner. WK Physician Services handles operational and administrative support; WK Physician Network manages contracting.