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Between Shifts: Healthcare Communication in the PICU
Published in Christopher P. Nemeth, Improving Healthcare Team Communication, 2017
Christopher P. Nemeth, Julie Kowalsky, Marianne Brandwijk, Madelyn Kahana, P. Allan Klock, Richard I. Cook
ICUs are hospital units that are equipped and staffed to provide specialized care for the most critically ill patients. Pediatric intensive care treats children, although patient ages in the unit can range from newborn to early twenties. Typical conditions requiring treatment in the PICU include congenital abnormalities, traumatic injuries, and illnesses such as asthma and epilepsy. Patients’ conditions are fragile, unstable, and can deteriorate rapidly. It is common for these patients to need intravenous (IV) medications or ventilator-assisted breathing to support life. The PICU at the research site has a capacity of thirteen patients, with five isolation beds and two open bays with four beds each. The PICU has a 1:1 nurse-to-patient ratio to care for those who suffer from severe, acute conditions. The Step Down Unit (SDU) provides intermediate level care for up to twenty patients. The SDU is located near the PICU but does not directly adjoin it. Ten of the rooms are private, while the two open bays have four or six beds. The SDU has a ratio of one nurse for every three patients, who typically suffer from a chronic illness.
General Radiography in the Critical Care and Trauma Environment
Published in Christopher M. Hayre, William A. S. Cox, General Radiography, 2020
The most obvious example of a critical care setting is the intensive care unit (ICU) and associated step-down high-dependency unit (HDU), but this is not the only example of a critical care ward. Other forms of critical care include intensive or high-dependency cardiac units (often referred to as critical cardiac units), ‘Recovery’ wards set aside for patients following anesthesia and surgery, and any form of HDU for a given branch of medicine. Additionally, there are specialist pediatric critical care settings, such as the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Going green: decreasing medical waste in a paediatric intensive care unit in the United States
Published in The New Bioethics, 2020
Zelda J. Ghersin, Michael R. Flaherty, Phoebe Yager, Brian M. Cummings
The PICU at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children/Harvard Medical School in Boston Massachusetts is a 14-bed medical/surgical ICU with approximately 1200 admissions per year. The unit is staffed by paediatric residents, emergency medicine residents, paediatric critical care fellows, paediatric critical care attendings (one who has a background in ethics), nurses, and respiratory therapists. Additionally, there are nutritionists, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, child life specialists and medical students that are part of the multidisciplinary team. Thus, we are a unit of interprofessionals dedicated to the higher good of helping children in need. This Boston PICU treats children with life-threatening issues such as sepsis, respiratory failure, trauma, burns and post-operative management. All modern tools are at our disposal. Patients are supported by advanced medical technology including invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation, neurologic monitoring, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and dialysis.