International standard of quality in the pediatric intensive care unit: a model for pediatric intensive care units in South America.

Abstract

Investments in critical care in South America have been postponed so that more pressing primary care needs may be funded. Poor underlying health, a lack of organized health care delivery systems, a lack of critical care beds, and regional epidemics, however, result in patients being admitted to pediatric intensive care units (ICUs) late in their illnesses. Pediatric ICU mortality rates are approximately 20%. Hospital problems include insufficient interdepartmental coordination, lack of care protocols, too few pediatric intensivists, inferior quality equipment, and a lack of qualified technicians. Pediatric nurses are poorly paid, have no special pediatric ICU training, and receive no special professional recognition. The few trained ICU nurses are often assigned administrative roles, while pediatric ICUs often employ auxiliary nurses who have the equivalent of 1 high school year of nurse's training. South America needs a model of pediatric intensive care which is different from that implemented in the US. In this model, resources must be optimized, difficulties minimized, and continuous and stable growth permitted until the state of the art is reached. ICUs must improve relationships and coordinate services interregionally, especially with emergency medical care systems, and they should be located in large medical centers. Intermediate care areas could also be developed to smooth the transition out of the pediatric ICU. Intensivists with appropriate training and certification should direct patient care, perform administrative tasks, and train residents on a full-time basis. Further, pediatric ICU nurses should be specially trained and participate in administration, while auxiliary nurses should be better trained to help ease the nursing shortage. Finally, equipment must be upgraded, but invasive, advanced hemodynamic monitoring is presently not a priority.