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Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Meet Our Team Locations Resources for Families Contact Information Request an Apppointment     Email This Page Print This Page           Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Children’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is a leader in the field of care for patients with critical illness and their families. The PICU treats more than 1,400 patients from across the United States and abroad. When the PICU opened in 1975 it was one of the first ICU dedicated for children in the United States. Going beyond state-of-the-art care to cutting-edge therapies for cardiac, pulmonary, and neurologic injury, the PICU’s multidisciplinary approach includes comprehensive care of children with a wide variety of diseases, including cardiac disease, trauma, infection, genetic disorders, pulmonary disease, and multiple organ failure. Children’s team is a national leader in the use of evidence-based pathways and guidelines, while following national recommendations of pediatric critical care. This helps decrease the average patient length of stay, manage resources effectively, and improve the quality of care. A team of 12 pediatric intensivists (pediatric intensive care specialists) lead a team of specialized pediatric critical care nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, case managers, pharmacists, and child life specialists to provide multidisciplinary care while working side-by-side with families and providers. The PICU focuses on providing compassionate and comfortable care to families during this stressful time. Data from the Pediatric ICU Evaluations Project, a quality assurance program that relates patient severity of illness to outcomes in PICUs throughout the country, shows that even though the acuity of patients in Children's ICU is high, it's outcomes are among the best in the nation. For every 100 patients admitted to Children's PICU, one child lives who would have died at most other PICUs. The Clinical Assessment and Treatment team (CAT Team) won a National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions award for the creation and implementation of a rapid response team that reduced code blues by 70 percent in the PICU.