The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at KHCC is a multidisciplinary 6-bed unit that provides care for critically ill children. The unit is supported by a full spectrum of medical and surgical services available at KHCC.  The PICU provides the highest level of care to critically ill children. We integrate state-of-the-art technologies with personal medical care to help our patients.  Our recipe for success also includes lots of love and sympathy for our patients and their families. 

Section Chief message:

Services:

Our team consists of 2 pediatric intensive care specialists, a fellow, a resident, a team of respiratory therapists and a team qualified nurses who work together with physicians and nurses from other divisions to care for the sickest children in the center. Our consultants also offer bedside consultations for children in the floor or the clinic as per the request of other doctors.

Children are admitted to the PICU from the inpatient floor, the emergency room and the operating room.  Floor patients are usually admitted to administer chemotherapy or to treat complications of chemotherapy and other forms of treatment.  Some patients come to the emergency room very sick and need more care than what can be offered by the floor staff, so they are sent directly to the PICU.  Children undergoing major surgeries often need additional care while they recover from the effects of anesthesia and surgery.  They are kept in the PICU until their pain and wound(s) can be taken care of in the floor.

Most of them are discharged in much better condition and frequently come to visit our staff and thank them for their care.

Who is an intensivist?

An intensivist is a physician who specializes in the management of very sick patients.  An intensivist should be able to maintain the vital organs and body parameters throughout a patient’s sickness. Adjusting blood pressure, dealing with sick kidneys and failing hearts, along with delivering “ventilation” when lungs are not doing well are among the primary duties of an intense care physician. Delivering high doses of medications that are necessary to control pain and inserting central lines to monitor body functions are also essential parts of this work. Our ability, as a center, to deliver enough chemotherapy to treat aggressive cancer depends on the support that our intensivits can deliver to sustain our sick patients until they recover from the effects of treatment. 

Why is our service unique? 

We are very proud of our PICU for many reasons:

1-     We are the only unit in the kingdom that offers specialized intensive care for children with cancer.

2-     We are the only ICU in Jordan that has high frequency oscillatory ventilators (2).  These great machines enable us to help children with very sick lungs to breathe until they recover.

3-     The PICU has Bi-level positive airway pressure machines. These allow us to provide non-invasive support of pulmonary failure in certain patients, thereby reducing the risks associated with invasive respiratory support.

4-     Our staff is certified in advanced pediatric life support.

5-     Our mortality (number of children who die in PICU) is among the lowest rates in the world.

6-     Again, our team is highly motivated and encouraged by the strength and courage of our patients and their families.