Pediatrics Critical Care and Emergency Medicine

If your child is in an unstable critical condition as a result of an illness or injury, a hospital-based paediatric critical care specialist can be contacted to offer the specialised treatment your child needs. In a paediatric intensive care unit, dangerously sick children must be closely monitored (PICU). Pediatric critical care is an important part of the global effort to reduce morbidity and mortality. In most hospitals in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), paediatric critical care is still in its infancy. Most hospitals lack designated intensive care units, healthcare workers trained to care for critically ill children, proper staffing levels, and quick access to needed medications, supplies, and equipment. Pediatric critical illness can have a significant impact on a child's health and development, as well as on family function and well-being. The focus of clinical care has shifted away from survival and toward detecting and minimising post-ICU morbidity. "Maximizing long-term (health-related) quality of life may represent the most essential goal of medicine in general, and of intensive care in particular," according to leading outcome specialists.