Outcomes of Children With Firearm Injuries Admitted to the PICU in the United States.

Objectives: Firearm-related injury is the second leading cause of injury and death for children 1-18 years old in United States. The objective of our study was to analyze the outcomes of children admitted to the PICU with firearm injuries.

Design: Retrospective study.

Change in Frequency of Invasive and Noninvasive Respiratory Support in Critically Ill Pediatric Subjects.

Background: Noninvasive respiratory support has become more popular in the pediatric population and may prevent or replace invasive procedures, such as endotracheal intubation, in certain circumstances. The objective was to examine the frequency of invasive and noninvasive respiratory support from 2009 to 2017 in critically ill pediatric patients and to determine patient-related factors associated with invasive support using the Virtual Pediatric Systems, LLC database.

Methods: This was an analysis of prospectively collected data on admissions with respiratory support from 17 pediatric ICUs from 2009 to 2017 reported within the Virtual Pediatric Systems database.

The Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic on U.S. and Canadian PICUs.

Objectives: There are limited reports of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic focused on U.S. and Canadian PICUs.

Reclassifying by highest complexity operation rather than first operation influences mortality after pediatric heart surgery.

Objective: To evaluate the effect on mortality of reclassifying patients undergoing pediatric heart reoperations of varying complexity by operation of highest complexity instead of by first operation.

Methods: Data from the Virtual Pediatric Systems Database on children aged < 18 years who underwent heart surgery (with or without cardiopulmonary bypass) were included (2009-2015). Only patients who underwent reoperations during the same hospitalization were included.

Performance of Pediatric Risk of Mortality Score Among Critically Ill Children With Heart Disease.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of the Pediatric Risk of Mortality 3 (PRISM-3) score in critically ill children with heart disease.

Methods: Patients <18 years of age admitted with cardiac diagnoses (cardiac medical and cardiac surgical) to one of the participating pediatric intensive care units in the Virtual Pediatric Systems, LLC, database were included. Performance of PRISM-3 was evaluated with discrimination and calibration measures among both cardiac surgical and cardiac medical patients.

Association of 24/7 In-House Intensive Care Unit Attending Physician Coverage With Outcomes in Children Undergoing Heart Operations.

Background: Multicenter data regarding the around-the-clock (24/7) presence of an in-house critical care attending physician with outcomes in children undergoing cardiac operations are limited.

Methods: Patients younger than 18 years of age who underwent operations (with or without cardiopulmonary bypass [CPB]) for congenital heart disease at 1 of the participating intensive care units (ICUs) in the Virtual PICU Systems (VPS, LLC) database were included (2009-2014). The study population was divided into 2 groups: the 24/7 group (14,737 patients; 32 hospitals), and the No 24/7 group (10,422 patients; 22 hospitals).