Pediatric Intensivists
At Children's Hospital & Medical Center, you can be sure your child is receiving the highest level of care no matter how serious his or her condition. Critically ill infants and children who require intensive levels of support and monitoring are placed in our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Cardiac patients that may be cared for in the PICU include children with heart defects or those who have undergone major heart surgery.
The PICU provides critically ill and injured children with the highest level of medical care by providing patients intensive nursing care and monitoring of important parameters such as heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. The PICU also offers patients more intensive therapies that might not be available on the general hospital floor such as ventilators (respirators), medications that can be given only under close medical supervision and other advanced medical therapies.
Children's employs 11 fellowship-trained pediatric intensivists who provide 24-hour onsite management of patients in our 19-bed PICU. Pediatric intensivists are doctors who have completed specialized training in the care of critically ill and injured children including a three-year residency in pediatrics after medical school, followed by an additional three years of subspecialty fellowship training in intensive care. Nurses and other health care professionals who work in the PICU have also received specialized training to ensure your child receives the safest and highest quality of care possible.
Our pediatric intensivists work closely with your child's team of doctors, nurses and other health care specialists to ensure a safe and coordinated plan of care. The PICU multidisciplinary team conducts rounds every morning to discuss each patient's case in detail. Since we are a teaching hospital, your child may be under the care of a medical student, resident or a physician extender (nurse practitioner or physician assistant). However, they are under the direct supervision of the intensivist at all times, night and day. Less formal rounds are also conducted at night beginning at 9 p.m. Parents are invited to participate in these rounds to provide input about your child's special needs. This is also an opportunity for you to ask questions about your child's condition and plan of management.
The PICU at Children's is the only PICU in the state of Nebraska with in-house pediatric intensivists caring for critically ill children. With this highly skilled team of health care professionals, you can rest assure that your child's care is in the capable hands of a team of highly trained professionals.
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