Duke Children's Opens NC's Only Cardiac PICU

From l-r: Jon Meliones, MD; Susan Strasser; Bill Fulkerson, MD; Amy Brenneman; Denise Bailey; Gavin Bailey; and Jim Jaggers, MDDuke Children's Hospital has opened North Carolina's only pediatric cardiac  intesive care unit. The 13-bed unit is staffed by caregivers with special interest and backgrounds in critical care for pediatric heart patients.

The new unit - constructed from former office space on the fifth floor of Duke hospital - allows more families to seek cardiac care at Duke Children's and frees up space for other critical care needs in the existing PICU.

The new unit was dedicated January 5 with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by Duke Medicine officials, and Denise Bailey and her son Gavin, who represented the families of current PICU patients.

"One of the most important periods in critical care is the hands-off period when the patient leaves the operating room and enters the intensive care unit. It's a time when patients can quickly become unstable," says the new unit Director Jon Meliones, MD. "We borrowed from military and aviation models in designing a communications system that calls for regular reporting procedures for every step of the way - and the protocol begins when the patient enters the operating room, not when he or she leaves."

Last year, Duke pedicatric cardiac surgeons performed 420 procedures, which was 10 percent more than in 2007.

The 6,200 square-foot unit cost $7 million and was paid for from the hospital's capital fund.

Staffing for the new unit consists of 23 physicians, 75 nurses, respiratory therapists, social workers, and pharmacists, and nearly two dozen mid-level providers.

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