BACKGROUND Physiologic monitors generate high rates of alarms in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), yet few are actionable. OBJECTIVE To determine the association between a huddle-based intervention focused on reducing unnecessary alarms and the change in individual patients' alarm rates in the 24 hours after huddles. DESIGN Quasi-experimental study with concurrent and historical con...

AIMS To determine whether the use of negative pressure ventilation (NPV) was associated with a lower rate of endotracheal intubation in infants with recurrent apnoea secondary to acute bronchiolitis. METHODS Retrospective review of two paediatric intensive care units (PICU) databases and case notes; one PICU offered NPV. RESULTS Fifty two infants with bronchiolitis related apnoea were admit...

INTRODUCTION Transfusion is a common treatment in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). Studies in adults suggest that prolonged storage of red blood cell units is associated with worse clinical outcome. No prospective study has been conducted in children. Our objectives were to assess the clinical impact of the length of storage of red blood cell units on clinical outcome of critically ill c...

OBJECTIVE To identify risk factors for respiratory complications after adenotonsillectomy in children ≤ 12 years of age with obstructive sleep apnea who were referred to the pediatric ICU (PICU). METHODS A cross-sectional historical cohort study analyzing 53 children after adenotonsillectomy who met predetermined criteria for PICU referral in a tertiary level teaching hospital. The Student's ...

Stress hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia are associated with increased mortality and morbidity in critically ill patients. Three randomized controlled trials, in the surgical, medical, and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of the Leuven University in Belgium, demonstrated the beneficial response of tightly controlling blood glucose levels within age-adjusted narrow limits by applying intensive ...

BACKGROUND This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence, risk factors and outcomes associated with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in a European pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). METHODS A total of 451 children who had been mechanically ventilated in the PICU for ≥ 48 hours during a 3-year period were enrolled in this prospective study. RESULTS In comparison with children...

BACKGROUND The impact of protein intake on outcomes in pediatric critical illness is unclear. OBJECTIVE We examined the association between protein intake and 60-d mortality in mechanically ventilated children. DESIGN In a prospective, multicenter, cohort study that included 59 pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) from 15 countries, we enrolled consecutive children (age: 1 mo to 18 y) who...

BACKGROUND Scoliosis surgery in childhood is associated with a range of postoperative complications that may require admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) or high-dependency unit (HDU). AIM The aim of this study was to identify preoperative factors associated with PICU and HDU admissions after corrective surgery and devise a scoring system that could be used by clinicians to p...

OBJECTIVES Paediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is an uncommon event but is associated with high mortality and severe neurological sequelae among survivors. Most studies of paediatric OHCA are population-based, with very few reports on the cohort admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). We sought to determine outcomes and predictors of neurologically intact survival in...

Background. Acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) are a common public health problem with a significant global health care burden. There is no comprehensive data on which viral pathogen or pathogens are associated with the highest severity in children with ARVI requiring intensive care. We characterized the severity of critical illness secondary to ARVI in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (P...