Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
General Inquiries
Visitor Information and Hours
About the PICU
CHKD's 32-bed pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is the region's largest and most sophisticated critical care unit for children. Each year, approximately 1,500 patients are admitted to the PICU from throughout Hampton Roads, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina.
Our patients come to us for a variety of reasons. Some need intensive care after a complex surgery. Others suffer from acute and life-threatening illnesses or injuries. And some may need highly specialized care for severe lung diseases that require intensive rehabilitative requirements.
If your child should ever need the services of our PICU, our staff would work closely with you to help you understand your child's condition and treatments. Our staff understands that the critical illness of a child is extremely stressful, so we do all we can to support our families during their child's illness.
Conditions We Treat
We treat any condition that could threaten the life of a child. These include severe infections, accidental poisonings, drug overdoses, birth defects, severe asthma, and immune system disorders.
We also provide post-operative care to children who have had complex surgery, and we treat many children every year who are injured in car, bike and pedestrian accidents, falls, and near-drownings.
We also care for children who are, to some degree, dependent on ventilators. Some require 24-hour ventilation support and others are in the process of learning to breathe on their own.
Our Care Team
Board-certified pediatric critical care specialists and acute care nurse practitioners oversee patient care in the PICU. But these physicians, also called intensivists, often call in many other specialists who collaborate to provide comprehensive care to each patient.
At CHKD, a full range of pediatric medical and surgical specialists, pharmacists, lab technicians, radiologists, rehabilitative staff, therapists, and dieticians are available 24 hours a day for consultation and patient support.
Depending on your child's specific needs, several different specialists may be assigned to your child's care team, including critical care nurses, respiratory therapists, pulmonologists, and child life specialists. Chaplains and social workers are also available to help families and our patients.
Frequently Asked Questions
We allow one parent/caregiver to spend the night at the bedside, and if available, a sleep room can be provided for one parent/caregiver whose children are in the PICU. Arrangements and guidelines regarding the availability of the sleeping rooms are made through the PICU staff.
Parents/caregivers are permitted to visit at almost any time of the day. Other family members are permitted to visit during visiting hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. There is a limit to the number of visitors at any one time. The following policies were put into place to balance our patients' needs for close medical supervision with their needs to have loved ones nearby.
- When a child is admitted to the PICU, the parents will be asked to compile a list of people who are allowed to visit their child. Only people whose names appear on this list will be allowed to visit.
- Each family will be permitted to add six names to the visitors list, this includes the parents/caregivers. In addition, only two visitors, including parents/caregivers, are allowed at the bedside at one time. Additional visitors, not on the visitors list, will need to wait in the lobby and are not permitted up to the unit or PICU lounge.
- Siblings of the patient may visit during the visiting hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Siblings under the age of 18 years old must be designated in the sibling section of the visitors list. Siblings and children that are not siblings, must be listed as one of the six visitors on the visitors list.
- Visitors are not allowed when nursing shifts change duty, generally 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Visitors may also be asked to leave for brief periods of time to allow doctors and/or patients privacy.
Parents, families, and visitors may eat in the KD Café on the first floor or visit our vending areas on the first and fourth floors. Microwave and toaster ovens are available in this area.
When you are away from your child's bedside, you are welcome to call the unit to find out how your child is doing. We may ask you to identify yourself in a special way (for instance, by giving us a special password) to make sure we are giving information to the proper person.
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