Post Intensive Care Syndrome in Pediatrics—What the General Pediatrician Needs to Know About Life After Critical Illness

Abstract

As mortality from pediatric critical illness has declined, post intensive care syndrome in pediatrics (PICS-p) has emerged as a framework to describe the broad and often long-lasting morbidities experienced by survivors of pediatric critical illness. PICS-p encompasses new or worsening impairment in physical, cognitive, emotional, and social health that affect both the child and their family. The term PICS-p also acknowledges and reinforces the traumatic impact of the critical care on the child and family dyad. Given the growing population of pediatric survivors of critical illness and the limited availability of newly emerging, specialized post-critical care clinics, it is imperative that general pediatricians, providing the child’s medical home, are equipped to diagnose and manage PICS-p in the outpatient setting. In this review, we summarize the prevalence, pathophysiology, clinical course, and impact of PICS-p on children and families. We also review preventive strategies that can be implemented in the PICU and conclude with practical guidance for general pediatricians caring for children after critical illness.