Pediatric Critical Care Medicine

Pediatric critical care specialists are medical doctors who have earned a medical degree and 

had 3 years of pediatric specialty residency training and 3 or more years of fellowship training 

in pediatric critical care. Pediatric critical care specialists treat children from birth through the 

teen years. They choose to make caring for childrenwho are very sick the core of their medical 

practice. Their advanced training and experience prepare them to give children in PICUs the 

unique medical care that they need.

Pediatric critical care specialists generally provide the following care to children who are 

critically ill:

• ·        Diagnosis of children who have an unstable, life-threatening condition
• ·        Thorough monitoring, medication, and treatment of children in a PICU
• ·        Supervision of children on respirators
• ·        Medical treatment for children with severe heart and lung disease
• ·        Placement of special catheters in the blood vessels and heart
• ·        Management of medications and treatments for children with brain trauma