The University of South Florida (USF) Pediatric Critical Care Division provides care to our most critically ill pediatric patients in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Overview

The division provides care in the 9-bed PICU and on the General Pediatric floor. The units are staffed 24/7 by a team of highly-skilled, dedicated pediatric intensivists, ICU nurses, and respiratory therapists who provide compassionate and family-centered care for complex, critically ill children. We treat and care for the entire Tampa Bay region and beyond within the state of Florida. We ensure a safe transfer from referring facilities to the unit.

Our staff quickly recognizes early signs of changes in mental status, cardiac instability, and respiratory failure, which ensures that our entire medical team can provide timely interventions and optimal recoveries.

Multidisciplinary Approach

• Pediatric ICU physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists co-manage patients, working together with USF Health specialists and sub-specialists as needed.
• Pediatric physiatrists and physical and occupational therapists evaluate potential candidates for follow-up rehabilitation after critical illness and/or trauma, often initiating therapy prior to discharge.
• Pediatric nutritionists participate in daily rounds and ensure optimization of nutritional goals and feeding regimens.
• Child life specialists are engaged in the daily care of each child and family and provide bereavement services for end-of-life decisions.
• Pediatric neuropsychiatrists are embedded within our team to provide support to every patient and parent.
• Pediatric pharmacy specialists are available 24/7 and attend daily bedside rounds to ensure safe and effective drug use and to educate children and their families about home medications.

What We Treat

• Respiratory failure, along with multiorgan failure, is one of the most common indications for pediatric critical care admission.
• We co-manage pediatric trauma with the Pediatric Trauma Team to provide the level 1 trauma services to the pediatric population in the region. We are a Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Center, designated by Florida's Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program.
• Pediatric intensivists work in concert with renowned pediatric neurosurgeons in managing complex cases of stroke, brain tumors, and vascular anomalies.
• Our multidisciplinary burn care team treats children with burns and other serious wounds in the PICU. We are the only pediatric burn center in the Tampa Bay area.
• Working with our pediatric nephrology specialists, we offer post-operative care for pediatric kidney transplant patients, providing hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and continuous renal replacement therapy for the critically ill.
• We provide palliative and hospice care services for end-of-life care.

USF Health Pediatrics also offers:

• The only metabolic center for pediatric patients with inborn errors of metabolism in 14 surrounding counties.
• A Cystic Fibrosis Core Center that manages pediatric CF patients along with pediatric pulmonary specialists.