The Questionnaire of Current Situation in Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care in Türkiye

To enhance the results in pediatric cardiac intensive care patients, it is essential to determine the personnel, organisation and equipment status that require improvement. This study aimed to evaluate the current status in the units where pediatric cardiac intensive care patients are admitted, in Türkiye.

The study was carried out by means of an online questionnaire form delivered to the chief physicians of intensive care units. The number of patients admitted in the intensive care unit, scope of the surgeries, the number and specialities of physicians and staff who are involved, their roles in patient care, as well as the use of monitorisation methods were defined. Descriptive statistics were applied to the results.

The intensive care units are most commonly found in educational institutions and there is a high rate of subspecialty training clinics. The majority of the units are medical and surgical mixed units (76%) and pediatric-only (96%). Pediatric intensive care specialists are most often asserted as the primary responsible physician (48%). The average number of surgeries and annual number of admitted patients are variable among the institutions. Interventional procedures are performed (92%) and cardiac mechanical support systems are used (84%) in the vast majority of the institutions.

There is great heterogeneity in patient volumes, personnel status and organisation styles of the units in which pediatric cardiac intensive care patients are admitted. In the future, all these types of patients should be cared for in pediatric-only units and physicians specialized in Pediatric Intensive Care should be present in the teams caring for these patients.