Pediatric Intensive Care Units

Dedicated Intensive Care Unit

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is a Level I, 16-bed state-of -the-art unit dedicated to the care of critically ill children and their families.

Care Team

Our care team is a multidisciplinary team consisting of board-certified pediatric intensivists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses, a registered respiratory therapist, a dedicated pharmacist, a social worker, case manager, child life specialist, pediatric nutritionist, and pastoral care. This team is dedicated to our PICU patients, working together to achieve excellence, and we are very family-centered in our approach to treating young patients.

What We Treat

The PICU provides comprehensive services for infants, children and adolescents for conditions such as:

• Single or multi-organ system failure
• Complex chronic illness
• Respiratory failure
• Neurologic emergency
• Poisoning and toxic ingestion
• Severe infection
• Severe traumatic injury
• Hemodynamic instability and shock states
• Metabolic and genetic diseases
• Cardiac failure and acute rhythm problems
• Oncologic problems
• Recovery from cardiac, orthopedic, neurologic and general surgeries

Special Equipment

We are equipped to provide highly technical therapies such as cardiac extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). ECMO is a highly specialized piece of equipment that does the work of the heart and lungs. ECMO can do the work of the lungs if they need extra healing time, allowing them to rest.

Extended Specialty Care

Patients may also be admitted to our pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU) or neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). For emergency pediatric care outside of St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital (SJCH) or transfer to SJCH we have a  dedicated specialized transport team available. The specialized transport team is trained in both neonatal and pediatric medicine and travels via a state of the art ambulance, helicopter or fixed wing aircraft to transport children to SJCH for treatment. This team is an extension of our intensive care units, with specialized training and state of art equipment able to care for any child.  

Special Partnership

Our team has a partnership with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, which creates an expanded team of experts to consult with on the best care for our patients.