Pediatric Intensive Care

A pediatric intensive care unit (also referred to as PICU) is a section within hospitals that specialize in critical medical care for infants, children and adolescents. The PICU is regularly staffed with pediatricians and nurses who are specially trained in pediatric intensive care.

A PICU regularly differs from other hospital wards in that in allows intensive nursing care and constant monitoring on a child's heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and other vital signs that aren't monitored that closely in other hospital sections. The PICU trained medical staff is capable of providing different therapies (respiratory and physio for example) that might not be available in other parts of the hospital as well as provide certain medications that can be given only under close medical supervision.

In addition, as this is a sensitive medical discipline, there is usually a higher ratio of professionals to patients than in other areas of the hospital, as well as being equipped with the most advanced and complex technology and equipment, particularly mechanical ventilators and patient monitoring systems.

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit - Video

Children in need of Pediatric Intensive Care

The pediatric intensive care unit will treat any child who is serious need of medical care and cannot be treated adequately in the regular hospital wards as well as children with special medical needs. These needs can include general pediatrics care, hemato-oncology care, multiple trauma (such as road accidents or near-drowning) and the repair of a wide variety of congenital defects that include heart, GI tract, urologic and more.

A child may also reach the PICU following surgery of any kind and be treated and monitored for a period for a few days as this section is more equipped to deal with the wide range of a child's post-surgery needs.

The period of a child's hospitalization in the unit will depend solely on the condition they are in. Some children might stay a single day as others might need to be hospitalized in the unit for weeks or months. The attending pediatricians will keep the parents updated at all times regarding their child's status.

The PICU Staff

The pediatric intensivists working in the PICU will go through medical school followed by a 3-year residency in pediatrics. In order to become qualified to work in the PICU they also must attend additional years of subspecialty fellowship training in intensive care. The nurses working in the PICU are experienced in caring for the sickest children in the hospital as they've gone through special pediatric training on top of intensive care training. In addition, there are many more subspecialists in the unit, such as cardiologists, pediatric-oncologists or neurosurgeons (brain surgeons) that attend to the children when the need arises. The PICU will also include social workers that are there to help families and children cope with the difficulties that arise from their diseases.

If you are in a position where your child needs an intensive care pediatric unit, TicketMed can recommend and help you find a unit suitable for your child's needs in a quick and easy manner. Please contact us.