Conventional wisdom tells us that children are more susceptible to disease than adults
including common paediatric health issues such as allergies, colds, conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and hand, foot and mouth diseases, all of which can be treated at home or by a general practitioner. But when a child becomes seriously ill, they require the highest level of medical care, which often means a trip to a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
Dr. Khemmachart Pongsanon, a Paediatric Intensivist at Bumrungrad PICU, explains that children between the ages of 1 month to 15 years occasionally come to the hospital’s PICU with serious health problems, such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a major cause of infections of the breathing passages and lungs in infants and young children, while others suffer from serious respiratory infections caused by other diseases such as influenza and bacterial infection.
“The PICU also treats other childhood brain afflictions such as seizures, tumours and congenital brain diseases, and leukaemia which require close supervision and care, while more serious conditions like brain, heart disease or intraabdominal tumours, require surgery.”
Children who are critically ill require careful monitoring in the PICU, which is staffed with paediatric critical care specialists who coordinate closely with other doctors, nurses and health care specialists such as PICU pharmacists, respiratory and physical therapists, in order to provide the best solutions and treatment to individual patients.
“Bumrungrad PICU employs three experienced paediatric intensivists and 21 qualified nurses to provide fast and efficient diagnosis and treatment. There are also nine private ICU rooms, including four family rooms, where parents can stay for up to 24 hours with their kids to make them feel at ease. The rooms are fully equipped with modern medical tools and are specially designed for the diminutive stature of young patients.”
“Kids in PICU are intensively attached with chest lead to the machines that continuously monitors their heart rate and respiration. Other devices on hand include a pulse oximetry machine which monitors blood oxygen levels, and an arterial catheter or arm cuff to monitor blood pressure.”
PICU’s private rooms comprise specially designed medical tools and family areas.
“We know that in the event of a life threatening paediatric medical episode, parents will worry about how to find qualified doctors and facilities to treat their children, while some families of sick children live upcountry where a PICU is not available. This is why we send out our PICU team to pick up the patients at their home or other hospitals; because the sooner children are brought to the PICU after exhibiting symptoms, the better their chances of recovery and the quicker the recuperation time.”
“We are pleased to see the parents feel relief when their children can resume their normal, healthy life.”
Bumrungrad also offers ground- and air-ambulance service to transport critically ill children living upcountry or in nearby countries such as Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia.
“We provide medical transportation service to pick up patients from their home or a designated location, or transfer them to our PICU from other hospitals,” explained Dr. Khemmachart.
“Prior to picking up patient, a paediatric intensivist will evaluate the patient’s condition to determine which medical equipment and tools are required to stabilise the patient during transport. A PICU team comprising a critical care specialist and a nurse is dispatched along with the ambulance to ensure patient safety and smooth transfer.”
In most cases, children with respiratory infection cannot endure the symptoms, which can quickly grow more severe, resulting in respiratory distress or respiratory failure, and have to be admitted to the PICU.
Parents are advised to immediately get their child to a hospital should they observe any of the following: Unusually laboured breathing, skin around the ribs “sucking in” with each breath, a deep, short, hoarse sound each time they exhale or a high-pitched grating sound when they inhale.
