Pediatric Critical Care of South Florida (PCCSF) was recently ranked in The South Florida Business Journal’s Guide To Health Care, which ranks South Florida’s top 25 physician practice groups each year. Dr. Gerald Lavandosky, Managing Partner, said, “We are thrilled to make the top 25 list and to serve this community and the patients and families at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital (JDCH) and other facilities. We’re proud of our work, our approach to family-centered care, our top-notch capabilities and services and our team of board-certified, fellowship-trained pediatric intensivists. We are committed to running the best pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in South Florida.” To learn more and view the full list of practices, click here.

p>Dr. Jason Adler, of Pediatric Critical Care of South Florida (PCCSF.com) was just listed in City & Shore Magazine as one of South Florida’s Pediatric Super Doctors for 2012. We are honored to receive the accolades and look forward to continuing our exceptional work here at PCCSF and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. To view the online version of this publication, please click here.

Another benefit for patients and providers is that ACA makes insurance companies accept people with pre-existing conditions and it doesn’t let them place lifetime limits on paying for care, said Dr. Jason Adler, the head of Pediatric Critical Care of South Florida in Miami. Too often, a sick child’s treatment is impacted by reaching the limit, he said. Learn more….

Dr. Deeter, a member of our PCCSF team, recently published an article on pediatric sedation. We are pleased to share the citation and abstract below.

Critical Care Medicine:
April 2011 – Volume 39 – Issue 4 – pp 683-688
doi: 10.1097/CCM.0b013e318206cebf
Clinical Investigations

Successful implementation of a pediatric sedation protocol for mechanically ventilated patients*

Deeter, Kristina H. MD; King, Mary A. MD, MPH; Ridling, Debra CCRN; Irby, Gretchen L. PharmD; Lynn, Anne M. MD; Zimmerman, Jerry J. MD, PhD, FCCM

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a nursing-driven sedation protocol for mechanically ventilated pediatric patients on duration of use of analgesic and sedative medications. We hypothesized that a protocol would decrease length of sedation use and decrease days of mechanical ventilation and length of stay.

Design: Retrospective cohort study with historical controls.

Setting: Thirty-one-bed tertiary care, medical-surgical-cardiac pediatric intensive care unit in a metropolitan university-affiliated children’s hospital.

Patients: Children requiring mechanical ventilation longer than 48 hrs not meeting exclusion criteria.

Interventions: Before protocol implementation, sedation was managed per individual physician orders. During the intervention period, analgesia and sedation were managed by nurses following an algorithm-based sedation protocol based on a comfort score.

Measurements and Main Results: The observation group included consecutive patients admitted during the 12-month period before protocol education and implementation (n = 153). The intervention group included patients admitted during the 12 months following protocol implementation (n = 166). The median duration of total sedation days (intravenous plus enteral) was 7 days for the observation period and 5 days for the intervention period (p = .026). Specifically, the median duration of morphine infusion was 6 days for the observation period and 5 days for the intervention period (p = .015), whereas the median duration of lorazepam infusion was 2 days for the observation period and 0 days for the intervention period. After adjusting for severity of illness with the pediatric risk of mortality III (PRISM III) score, the Cox proportional hazards regression analysis demonstrated that at any point in time, patients in the intervention group were 23% more likely to be off all sedation (heart rate 0.77, p = .020). Additionally, the intervention group tended to be associated with fewer days of mechanical ventilation (heart rate 0.81, p = .060) and decreased pediatric intensive care unit length of stay (heart rate 0.81, p = .058), although these associations did not quite reach statistical significance.

Conclusion: A pediatric sedation protocol can significantly decrease days of benzodiazepine and opiate administration, which may improve pediatric intensive care unit resource utilization.

We’re proud to partner and privileged to work with some of the leading hospitals in the Nation. Learn more about the exciting development at one of our partners, Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital, who received federal approval to open a Pediatric Heart Transplant Program.
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