With over 350 licensed beds, St. Louis Children’s Hospital cares for children throughout Missouri and the larger Midwest region as well as national and international communities. Our intensive care units provide a robust clinical environment across the spectrum of pediatric critical illness.
PICU
Our Pediatric ICU is a 40-bed unit, constructed in 2017 and averaging more than 2000 admissions per year, and is equipped to provide the highest level of care to critically ill children. The multidisciplinary team includes experienced nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, dieticians, physical, occupational, and speech therapists, chaplains, and social workers as well as residents, fellows, nurse practitioners, and attending pediatric intensivists. Particular strengths of our program include:
- Pediatric trauma care: SLCH is one of only two American College of Surgeons Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Centers in the state of Missouri
- Pediatric neurocritical care: neurosurgical and neurologic pathology, pediatric stroke care, EEG monitoring, and post-ICU care through the Neurocritical Care Follow Up program
- Advanced mechanical ventilatory support approaches
- Extracorporeal support: both venoarterial and venovenous ECMO, renal replacement therapy
- Pediatric transplant care: heart, lung, liver, kidney, and bone marrow/stem cell transplants
CICU
Our Cardiac ICU is part of the 30-bed Heart Center, with an average ICU census of 10-18 patients. Fellows care for patients with a broad range of congenital heart diseases both pre- and post-operatively and participate in the care of complex patients treated in our cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology programs. In addition, our institution has a strong advanced heart failure program, allowing our fellows exposure to the medical management of acute decompensated heart failure, extracorporeal support with ECMO and ventricular assist devices, and the care of heart transplant recipients. Patients with pulmonary hypertension and patients receiving lung transplants are also cared for in the Cardiac ICU. Our PCCM fellows are integrated into the team of cardiac intensivists, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, pulmonologists, and an experienced multidisciplinary team providing collaborative care for our patients.
Transport
Fellows participate in interhospital transports for critically ill children requiring admission to our PICU or CICU. On-service fellows receive intake phone calls for transports and, with a process of graduated independence, serve as medical control for the SLCH Transport Team. For extremely unstable or high-risk patients, fellows serve as physician members of the Transport Team.
