Pediatric Critical Care Medicine

The Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine coordinates the critical care services of Norton Children's Hospital, the regional referral center for critically ill and injured infants, children and adolescents. The Division includes 17 pediatric critical care physicians and 10 advanced practice providers.

The multi-disciplinary "Just for Kids" Critical Care Center includes both the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU).  Here, children with a variety of medical and surgical conditions that require intensive monitoring are cared for daily. Diagnoses frequently encountered include shock, trauma, traumatic brain injury, ingestions/poisoning, status epilepticus, status asthmaticus, diabetic ketoacidosis, pediatric respiratory failure, congenital heart disease, metabolic abnormalities and cardiac dysrhythmias.   Patients with complex surgical needs, including cardiovascular, trauma, neurosurgical, and heart and kidney transplantation are also cared for in the Critical Care Center.

The Norton Children’s Hospital PICU currently has 24 beds, and the CICU has 17 beds. We make every effort to provide family centered care, striving to include our parents in our rounding process and making family satisfaction a priority.

One member of the division serves as Director of Transport, for which our physicians serve as medical control.  Averaging more than 2800 transports a year, the Just for Kids Transport Team provides air (fixed wing and helicopter) and ground transportation of critically ill and injured infants and children, including those supported by ECMO, by a neonatal/pediatric critical care team throughout Kentucky and Southern Indiana. 

Three members of the division jointly direct the palliative care medicine services at Norton Children's Hospital through the Pediatric Support Team (PST).  This multi-disciplinary team provides inpatient care for children with complex and life-threatening illnesses and their families. The team works closely with multiple subspecialities within the Norton Children’s Hospital and alongside pediatric outpatient palliative and hospice services provided through Hosparus-Kourageous Kids. The PST team’s mission is to provide an extra layer of support for patients and families of chronically ill children, ranging from symptom management to shared decision making and determination of goals of care.

Research interests of the division include patient safety, procedural sedation and analgesia, sedation, patient safety and quality improvement, medical education and patient simulation, communication, palliative care, and extracorporeal support. Members of the Division of Critical Care Medicine participate in research through the University of Louisville and Norton Children’s Research Institute.

A robust Simulation Program enhances the academic experience for the entire health care team.  By providing a high-fidelity, true-to-life experience using mannequins with real-time computerized and personal feedback, our clinicians, nurses, and therapists can refine their skills, develop improved team dynamics, and proactively work to continue to provide world-class care. Outreach simulations are provided by division attendings and fellows around the region to support the pediatric readiness of hospital EDs, ORs, and wards and EMS services.

The division also supports an ACGME accredited Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellowship.  Its mission is to train excellent providers of critical care for infants, children, and young adults with congenital and acquired illness, and to cultivate innovative researchers that will further the science of this subspecialty.  We accomplish this by providing comprehensive clinical and scientific education in the multidisciplinary multiprofessional environments of the PICU and CICU, where our fellows gain progressive independence in the management of patients, communication with families, and performance of procedures. We currently accept two fellows per year.