Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jul 2002
Risk factors prolonging ventilation in young children after cardiac surgery: Impact of noninfectious pulmonary complications.
To determine risk factors for prolonged ventilation after cardiac surgery in young children and assess the impact of noninfectious pulmonary complications on ventilatory duration. DESIGN: Retrospective case series analysis. SETTING: A tertiary pediatric cardiac center. PATIENTS: Clinical records of 222 consecutive children aged =3 yrs undergoing cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease were reviewed. Fifteen patients, consisting of six premature babies and nine who died within 72 hrs of surgery, were excluded. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN ⋯ Noninfectious pulmonary complications that occurred commonly after cardiac surgery in young children prolong ventilatory duration only in the presence of other risk factors, with which it acts in a synergistic fashion.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Jul 2002
Outcome of critically ill children before and after the establishment of a pediatric retrieval service as a component of a national strategy for pediatric intensive care.
To compare outcomes of critically ill children transferred for intensive care by specialist and nonspecialist retrieval before and after the establishment of a dedicated pediatric intensive care transfer service. DESIGN: Prospective, observational study. SETTING: All hospitals that admitted children in a defined geographic region of the United Kingdom. PATIENTS: There were a total of 284 critically ill children (<16 yrs old) transferred from a district general hospital to a tertiary pediatric intensive care unit. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN ⋯ We conclude that the establishment of a regional transfer service coincided with a fall in standardized mortality that reflected more general changes in intensive care performance rather than a specific benefit of a specialist transfer team.