Pediatric Critical Care
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), a division of KIDZ Medical Services, provides treatment for critically ill patients from newborn to 18 years of age with various conditions, including respiratory, cardiac, gastrointestinal, neurological, orthopedic, surgical, and trauma.
Under the direction of a board-certified pediatrician with many years’ experience treating critically ill children, our PICU operates 24 hours a day. Our team includes both pediatric intensivists (doctors who treat sick children) and advanced practice nurses who are specialized in pediatric critical care.
While in the PICU, each patient receives an individualized plan of care on a daily basis. Our providers will obtain your child’s medical and surgical history, conduct physical examinations, and order, perform, and interpret diagnostic studies and tests. They will ensure that your child receives sedation for both outpatient and inpatient MRI/CT scans as well as minor inpatient procedures.
Our pediatric critical care team collaborates and consults with multiple healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care for every patient. Pediatric intensivists serve as the overall coordinating physician for your child’s care while he or she is in the PICU, as well as the team leader for pediatric emergency/codes in the hospital setting.
At KIDZ Medical Services, we understand how scary and stressful it is as a parent to have a critically ill child, and also how frightening it is for your child. We strive to maintain patient/family normalcy during your child’s hospital stay, even with the most critical patients, by involving child life services from the time your child is admitted and throughout their stay.
Our group is committed to the care and safety of your child while hospitalized, and we encourage family members to be involved in all aspects of your child's stay.
Child Life Services
Child life specialists are specialized individuals that support the emotional and developmental well-being of hospitalized children. They help decrease the fear and anxiety that a hospitalized child might feel by providing therapeutic, developmentally appropriate interventions.
Some of these interventions include distraction activities during painful procedures, medical play, hospital tours, procedural preparation books, and medical puppets.
In addition, behavioral medicine therapists and counseling are available to provide psychosocial and emotional support to children and their families during the hospitalization.
Child life specialists and behavioral medicine therapists work closely with the physicians and advanced practice nurses to provide a less stressful time while he or she is hospitalized.
Our pet therapy program is another highly popular diversion activity. On a regular basis, volunteers of the hospital bring their own pets to visit children and their families in the PICU for a much-needed break and cuddle.
Quantum House
Located on the campus of St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Quantum House provides temporary housing and emotional support to families of critically ill hospitalized children who reside far away from the hospital. Quantum House is located on the hospital's campus, which provides family members the reassurance of being close to their hospitalized child. For more information on this "caring place to call home,” please visit their website at www.quantumhouse.org.
To learn more about our pediatric intensive care unit services, call KIDZ Medical Services at 305-661-1515.
