Welcome to Critical Care Medicine
The Department of Pediatrics Section of Critical Care Medicine provides inpatient clinical services at Children's Hospital Colorado, located in Aurora.
- We are recognized as one of the top pediatric critical care research programs nationally, with outstanding clinical outcomes, a committed fellowship training program and one of the highest levels of extramural funding within a critical care section.
- We are actively involved in local and national efforts to improve patient safety and promote quality improvement in the pediatric intensive care unit.
- Research programs include funded projects spanning basic science in lung and pulmonary vascular diseases, clinical and translational research, outcomes and clinical informatics and participation in national research networks including PALISI and CPCCRN.
- We are committed to providing outstanding education in pediatric critical care to learners across the continuum, and support an outstanding pediatric critical care medicine fellowship program to train the next generation of leaders in the field.
- Our advanced practice providers contribute to the diverse missions in the section and support an innovative APP critical care training program.
The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children's Hospital Colorado provides comprehensive services for children with single or multiorgan system failure, complex severe chronic illness, those recovering from complex cardiac, orthopedic, neurologic and general surgeries, and patients undergoing solid organ transplantation. The PICU at Children's Hospital Colorado provides:
Care is provided via an integrative approach, utilizing the expertise of pediatric intensivists, anesthesiologists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, and other medical subspecialists, as well as pediatric and subspecialty surgeons. These physicians are assisted by a highly trained and dedicated team of nurses. In addition, a constant presence of pharmacists, respiratory therapists, registered dieticians, and social workers allows us to provide the most technologically advanced medical support and service to the sickest children in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Pediatric intensive care fellows, supervised by board certified pediatric intensivists, staff the PICU 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year allowing the delivery of complex therapies including V-A and V-V extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRT), high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV), and inhaled nitric oxide (iNO). In addition, services and support are provided to active and expanding programs in lung, bone marrow, renal, and liver transplantation surgery as well as a level 1 trauma surgery program and active burn program.
Children's Hospital Colorado is a free-standing children's hospital affiliated with the University of Colorado. We offer a pediatric critical care fellowship designed for board-eligible pediatricians planning a career devoted to the care of the critically ill child.
Second- and third-year residents rotating through the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are exposed to a medically and culturally diverse patient population, both culturally and medically. Placed in a pediatric hospital with 314 beds and serving a seven state catchment area, the PICU has 48 dedicated beds and accepts approaching 4,000 admissions each year with roughly half being medical and half surgical in nature.
The PICU enjoys full medical and surgical sub-specialty support allowing for exposure of the trainee to the full spectrum of critical illness in pediatrics. In addition to our Fellow and Resident educational programs, our PICU welcomes 4th year medical students with an interest in intensive care and strong letters of recommendation who wish to experience a sub-internship. We also provide clinical rotations for midlevel practitioner students (PA and NP) on a select basis, and a one-day shadow experience for EMS personnel.