Pediatric Intensive Care  (PICU)

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital of Illinois, a 12-bed unit, has the equipment, staff and experience to provide the most critically-ill child the chance for surviving illnesses that were once considered universally fatal. Five board-certified Pediatric Intensivists and three Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, along with specially trained nurses, provide conventional and advanced critical care to the following types of patients:

• Cardiothoracic surgery
• High-risk general/neuro surgery
• Medical
• Trauma

They have the capability and skill to utilize the following technologies and offer the following services:

• Continuous hemofiltration with or without dialysis
• Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
• High frequency ventilation
• Intracranial pressure monitoring
• Nitric oxide administration
• Peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis
• Pediatric sedation/analgesia

Pediatric Intermediate Care  (PIC)

The Pediatric Intermediate Care Unit is a 10-bed unit under the same nursing and medical management as the PICU. As the name describes, it is a step-down unit where patients are admitted or transferred when they need closer monitoring than the General Pediatric Unit can provide. The nurses who staff this unit are critical care trained and provide nursing care to patients in the following general categories:

• Medical/surgical patients requiring frequent monitoring and/or interventions
• Oncology patients currently receiving chemotherapy

Pediatric Transitional Care

Pediatric/Transitional Care Unit, a four-bed family-centered unit, has developed a model environment for the care of the medically fragile, technology-dependent child. Our “whole” child approach incorporates a multitude of professional staff: Intensivists, specially trained RNs, Respiratory Therapists, Social Worker, Patient Care Techs, Child Life Specialists, Occupational, as well as Physical Therapists, and the Home Vent/High Technology Dependent Children’s Program Team.