A two-day comprehensive course addressing fundamental management principles for the first 24 hours of pediatric critical care.

The First Edition of Pediatric Fundamental Critical Care Support (PFCCS) was released in May 2008. The First Edition of the PFCCS text and the upcoming Course are a welcome addition to the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) fundamentals of critical care education series. PFCCS will be a major resource for those interested in learning how to recognize critical illness and initiate care for the critically ill pediatric patient, in the absence of an intensivist. It will also serve as a valuable education tool for those entering the field of pediatric critical care.

SCCM has offered its Fundamental Critical Care Support (FCCS) course to global audiences since the mid-1990s. While FCCS addresses both adult and pediatric issues, its primary focus is the adult patient. PFCCS will disseminate fundamental pediatric critical care concepts to professional providers who may be involved in the initial management and transfer of critically ill or injured infants and children.

Course Purpose

    * To better prepare the non-intensivist for the first 24 hours of post-resuscitation management of the critically ill pediatric patient until transfer or appropriate critical care consultation can be arranged.

    * To prepare non-intensivists, nurses, and critical care practitioners in dealing with acute deterioration of the critically ill pediatric patient.

    * To assist the non-intensivist in dealing with sudden deterioration of a previously stable patient.
    * To prepare house staff for PICU coverage.

Course Objectives

    * Prioritize assessment needs for the critically ill or injured infant and child.
    * Select appropriate diagnostic tests.
    * Identify and respond to significant changes in the unstable pediatric patient.
    * Recognize and initiate management of acute life-threatening conditions.
    * Determine the need for expert consultation and/or patient transfer and prepare the practitioner for optimally accomplishing transfer. 

Intended Audience

Pediatric Fundamental Critical Care Support (PFCCS) is designed to prepare health care providers caring for unstable, critically ill, or injured pediatric patients. Likely participants include:

    * Hospitalists caring for potentially unstable, critically ill or injured pediatric patients.
    * Advanced Practice Nurses and Physician Assistants with limited pediatric practice
    * Rapid Response/Medical Emergency Team members
    * Critical care fellows beginning their training
    * Emergency medicine physicians who do not routinely care for pediatric patients
    * Nursing caring for complex and potentially unstable patients
    * Pre-hospital providers with lengthy patient transfer times