TY  - JOUR
AU  - Parchomchuk, Evan
AU  - Holt, Tanya
AU  - Hansen, Gregory
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/2/10
TI  - Canadian Pediatric Intensive Care Adaptations for Critically Ill Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey Study
JO  - JMIR Pediatr Parent
SP  - e43602
VL  - 6
KW  - Canada
KW  - COVID-19 pandemic
KW  - delivery of health care
KW  - pediatrics
KW  - population health
KW  - health care
KW  - intensive care
KW  - patient care
AB  - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed Canadian hospitals with adult admissions. A large number of adult patients required critical care therapies, placing significant strain on hospital resources. In order to decompress adult intensive care units, pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) introduced adapted models of traditional care to lessen these burdens. Objective: We aimed to evaluate how PICUs across Canada adapted care for the high volumes of critically ill adults. Methods: A survey containing 40 questions was sent to the medical directors of 14 Canadian PICUs where English was the primary clinical language. The survey was designed to gain perspective on the various adaptations that PICUs instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Of the 13 PICUs that returned survey responses (response rate: 13/14, 93%), 10 (77%) participated in at least one adaptation to support the influx of admitted adults with COVID-19. The key challenges included disorganization, loss of autonomy, and compromised patient care. The significant advantages of these adaptations included a sense of learning and comradery. Conclusions: Our study highlighted an unpreparedness in critical care surge capacity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, adaptations rapidly emerged in Canada that involved PICUs with adult care. In the future, preplanned adaptations for optimizing robust critical care services should be developed based on what has been learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. 
SN  - 2561-6722
UR  - https://pediatrics.jmir.org/2023/1/e43602
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/43602
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36724349
DO  - 10.2196/43602
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/43602
ER  -