 |
|
| WHAT HAPPENS ON PICU |
|
|
The PICU has treated more than 6,000 children since 1992, and many lives have been saved. When the Unit opened, 30 per cent of children who caught meningococcal disease died. Today at St Mary’s the mortality rate is under 5 per cent - the lowest mortality rate in the world. None of this would have been possible without support from charitable sources including COSMIC.
|
|
|
Saving lives is a costly business. The highly specialised equipment needed is extremely expensive and staff must to be trained to use it. Just the basic equipment to support one paediatric intensive care bed costs more than £100,000.
|
|
|
Many children admitted to the Unit suffer multi-organ failure. This means that, in addition to support for their lungs, they will need support for their kidneys in the form of dialysis or haemofiltration, or intracranial pressure monitoring to ensure that the brain is not damaged. Some have such severe lung damage that they need special types of ventilators, such as high frequency oscillators or negative pressure ventilators. Many will need complex investigations using EEG and ECG machines, plus ultrasound or CT scans.
|
|
|
|
The children need to be given many different drugs including antibiotics, painkillers and drugs to control hydration. Syringe pumps are often required to administer these drugs at precise frequencies and in exact quantities. There may be up to a dozen pumps attached to a seriously sick child, each one costing more than £1,500.
|
|
|
Nearly all the equipment on the PICU has been bought with charitable donations, and some members of PICU staff are paid through charitable trusts.
|
|
|
|
|