ABSTRACT

Since few trials investigate the outcome of patients in pediatric intensive care units, the aim of this study is to evaluate the six year retrospective data of our unit, and contribute to effective use of insufficient number of units.

The 546 patients who were hospitalized in our PICU between 2007-2013 were assessed retrospectively from the hospital records. Patients' ages, gender, mechanical ventilation (MV) support, duration of MV, transfusion status, length of stay in intensive care, diagnosis and outcome were recorded.

Statistical analysis were obtained using SPSS 15.0 for Windows. The numerical data was presented as median and distribution range,and the categorical data as number (n) and percentage (%).

Of the 546 patients, followed in our unit between 2007-2013, 283(52%) were male 263(48%) were female. The median age of the patients were 24 months (1-240 months) and the median length of stay was 3 days (1-430 days). The most common diagnoses were respiratory tract diseases (n=314, 57.5%), neurological diseases (n=225, 41.2%) and poisonings (n=96, 17.6%). Mechanical ventilation was required in 133 (24.4%) patients. The median of duration of MV was 120 hours (1-2160 hours). Nineteen (3.5%) patients had tracheostomy. 98 of the patients (17.9%) were discharged from the intensive care unit directly to the child’s home. The crude mortality rate was 8.8% (n = 48).

More studies are required to determine the equipment and staffing needs in the light of the evaluation of the patients hospitalized in PICUs in our country.

Keywords: Child, intensive care, patient