Pediatr Crit Care Me
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2019
Criteria for Critical Care Infants and Children: PICU Admission, Discharge, and Triage Practice Statement and Levels of Care Guidance.
To update the American Academy of Pediatrics and Society of Critical Care Medicine's 2004 Guidelines and levels of care for PICU. ⋯ This practice statement and level of care guidance manuscript addresses important specifications for each PICU level of care, including the team structure and resources, technology and equipment, education and training, quality metrics, admission and discharge criteria, and indications for transfer to a higher level of care. The sparse high-quality evidence led the panel to use a modified Delphi process to seek expert opinion to develop consensus-based recommendations where gaps in the evidence exist. Despite this limitation, the members of the Task Force believe that these recommendations will provide guidance to practitioners in making informed decisions regarding pediatric admission or transfer to the appropriate level of care to achieve best outcomes.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2019
Barriers to Communication in a PICU: A Qualitative Investigation of Family and Provider Perceptions.
Family and medical provider perceptions of communication barriers within the PICU are poorly understood. We designed a qualitative study to characterize the perspective of families and medical providers of critically ill children regarding communication barriers. The identified barriers may be used to direct efforts to improve communication. ⋯ Families and medical providers both identified several barriers to communication. However, only families identified the barrier "Undervaluing the knowledge of families with chronically ill children." Future work should explore these barriers and the discrepancy in perception between providers and families to determine if there are interventions that improve both family satisfaction and patient care.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2019
Observational StudyNoninvasive Determination of Blood Pressure by Heart Sound Analysis Compared With Intra-Arterial Monitoring in Critically Ill Children-A Pilot Study of a Novel Approach.
To develop a novel device to predict systolic and diastolic blood pressure based on measured heart sound signals and evaluate its accuracy in comparison to intra-arterial blood pressure readings. ⋯ Our findings provide proof of concept that the heart-sound signal-based method can provide accurate, noninvasive blood pressure monitoring.
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Pediatr Crit Care Me · Sep 2019
Current Epidemiology of Vocal Cord Dysfunction After Congenital Heart Surgery in Young Infants.
Surgery of the aortic arch poses risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury due to the anatomic proximity and can manifest as vocal cord dysfunction after surgery. We assessed risk factors for vocal cord dysfunction and calculated surgical procedure associated rates in young infants after congenital heart surgery. ⋯ Vocal cord dysfunction complicated all cardiac surgical procedures among infants including those without aortic arch involvement. Increased efforts to determine appropriate indications for prevention, screening and treatment of vocal cord dysfunction among young infants after congenital heart surgery are needed.