Family Centered Facilities | Pediatric and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (PICU) | UC Davis Children's Hospital

Opened in 2011 in expanded facilities, the state-of-the-art, family-centered Pediatric Intensive Care Unit encompasses 25,000 square feet. The PICU has 24 beds as well as oversized rooms giving caregivers easy access to respiratory ventilators, kidney dialysis machines and extra-corporeal life support (ECLS) equipment.

The large, single-patient rooms enhance family-centered care. They accommodate a sleeping sofa and a chair in each room, which enables family members to remain at their child's bedside around the clock. Each room has its own television.

All children who become ambulatory during recovery have access to an activity room with music, art and play therapy provided by the hospital’s Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. The program supports children's healing with positive reinforcement to relieve the stress and anxiety of hospitalization.

The PICU/PCICU expansion was made possible in part by Children's Miracle Network donations.

Advanced equipment and nurturing care

Using the most advanced life-support and monitoring equipment available, along with examinations, intensive care medical staff members maintain vigil over the vital signs of patients. They closely observe and assess bodily fluid levels, medication, sedation, nourishment, breathing and other critical functions, administer pain-relieving drugs and scrutinize bodily responses for any signs of infection or other risks. Their nurturing care guides patients through the critical hours or days following a medically traumatic event.