Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) opened the first pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Gyeonggi Province in a ceremony on July 9.
The space dedicated for critically ill pediatric patients features expanded facilities with specialized staff and equipment, ensuring more targeted and effective treatment, the hospital said.
Located on the 12th floor of the hospital’s main building, the PICU comprises six beds staffed by 31 pediatric nurses adhering to the highest nursing grade standards, it added.
Patients in critical condition are treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), with newborns under one month old receiving care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Children between one month and 18 years old are treated in the PICU. In Korea, only 11 top hospitals and two general hospitals have PICUs, forcing many others to allocate adult ICU beds for pediatric care.
Considering that children have distinct physical and physiological needs requiring specialized medical equipment and treatment protocols, providing a dedicated and optimized treatment environment with specialized personnel is crucial for improving survival rates and treatment outcomes, SNUBH emphasized.
As the only children’s public specialized care center in Gyeonggi Province designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) in May 2023, SNUBH operates a 40-bed NICU and a pediatric emergency room separate from adult facilities. According to the hospital, the newly opened PICU is the first and largest independent PICU in the province and is expected to play a crucial role in the critical care system, both regionally and nationally.
SNUBH said it plans to further specialize in pediatric intensive care. Following the registration and opening of beds this year, the hospital intends to strengthen its “dedicated specialist care system” by hiring additional pediatric critical care doctors in 2025 and expanding specialized medical equipment for children.
“We have operated some beds in our adult intensive care unit as PICUs, but with the opening of this separate PICU, we have strengthened our expertise in pediatric critical care,” SNUBH CEO and President Song Jung-han said.
Choi Chang-won, director of the Specialized Public Medical Center for Children, said, “This is an opportunity for the Specialized Public Medical Center for Children at SNUBH to further bolster the pediatric critical care system in the community. We will continue building the capacity of the PICU to provide high-quality pediatric intensive care.”
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