The impact of admission to a pediatric intensive care unit assessed by means of global and cognitive performance scales.

Objective: To assess the impact of admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil on children's cognitive and global performance.

Methods: An observational, longitudinal study of a sequential sample of critically ill children. The following indicators were used: the Pediatric Index of Mortality (PIM), for severity and risk of death at admission, the Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category (PCPC), for cognitive morbidity and the Pediatric Overall Performance Category (POPC), for global morbidity, at admission and at discharge.

[Prescription of drugs not appropriate for children in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit].

Objective: To assess the extent of use of drugs not appropriate for children in prescriptions issued in a tertiary pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), according to FDA standards.

Methods: Observational cross-sectional study. The prescriptions issued to all patients admitted to the PICU at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil, over a six-week period were assessed.