When David and Sherry Craig received a call from their son’s school in December saying Caleb, 8, was sick to his stomach and had a headache, they weren’t alarmed. A flu virus had been going around, causing more than 60 kids to be absent from his elementary school that Friday. By Saturday night, however, Caleb wasn’t getting any better, and his headaches were so intense that his parents called his pediatrician.
First thing Sunday morning, the Craigs headed to the pediatrician’s office. But before they could get Caleb out of the backseat, he began having seizures. The Craigs, along with Caleb’s pediatrician who happened to be at his side when the seizures began, rushed him into the emergency room. A CT scan revealed a massive bleed in his brain as a result of an anterior vascular malformation or AVM.
After being stabilized, Caleb was flown from Cleveland by LIFE FORCE to T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, where he was treated by a team of pediatric specialists at the region’s only Level I Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).
The only unit of its kind in the tri-state region, the PICU provides 24-hour care by a multi-disciplinary team of critical care specialists, including four critical care physicians, 23 critical care nurses, a number of respiratory and physical therapists, and a pediatric pharmacist. All are specifically trained to care for the unique needs of critically ill or injured children, teens, and young adults.
“So many uncertainties were running through our heads when we were en- route to Children’s Hospital and waiting for the diagnosis,” recalls Mr. Craig. “But as soon as we met the amazing PICU staff, we knew Caleb was in good hands. Compassion for our entire family exuded from each and every employee, whether it was the person answering the phone or the critical care physician explaining the next course of treatment for Caleb.”
It’s that compassionate, family-centered care that resulted in the PICU at Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga being named the Advance for Nurses 2007 Best Nursing Team in the Southeast. Chosen from hundreds of nursing teams and evaluated by a panel of judges on numerous categories, the Chattanooga team was honored on the May 7 cover of Advance for Nurses, a bi-weekly nursing magazine.
According to Sue Bankhead, nurse manager of the PICU, “The staff not only cares for the child, but for the entire family. We recognize that the parents are the experts on their child and believe that they are an important part of their child’s recovery process. We continually ask for their opinion when making decisions on their child’s care.”
Once in the unit, Caleb’s team of specialists planned to treat the bleeding in his brain with medication rather than surgery. But over the course of 24 hours Caleb took a turn for the worse. Pediatric intensivists, along with a team of neurosurgeons, decided emergency surgery was needed to stop the bleeding and decrease the swelling in his brain before it caused further damage.
“The teamwork and communication demonstrated between the physicians and nurses is something that I will never forget,” remembers Mr. Craig. “Everyone was on the same page and made a point to work with our family, making sure we were all aware of everything that was happening to Caleb. They answered every question and reassured and supported us through those first tumultuous days.”
The PICU, along with all of Children’s Hospital, strives to provide family-centered care to children and their families. The unit has a liberal visitation policy and encourages parents, siblings, friends, and loved ones to sit with and talk with the patients. The staff also encourages parents and other loved ones to decorate the patient’s area with familiar objects from home. “We try our best to make their experience in the PICU as much like a normal day as possible,” says Barbara Davis, RN. “The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit can be intimidating to small children and teens and we feel their family and familiar surroundings offer a sense of comfort and diversion for them while healing.”
Child Life Specialists are also a very important part of the PICU team. Child Life specialists care for the emotional needs of children and teens by supplying games, activities, special guests, and distraction tools used during treatment and procedures to transform the hospital into a more comfortable setting.
Recalling those intense first days at Children’s Hospital, Mr. Craig remembers the bond his family forged with the nursing staff. “The bond formed between our family and those nurses is a bond that will never be broken. When Caleb took a turn for the worse they prayed and cried with us, and when he came through surgery and began his miraculous road to recovery, they celebrated with us.”
Though it seemed like Caleb might not make it through those first days, he showed remarkable signs of recovery after surgery. Three days after being admitted to the PICU, he was breathing on his own and moved to a private room on the general pediatric floor. Six days later, he was able to go home.
Like Caleb, many patients in the PICU are transferred to Children’s Hospital from regional hospitals or from the hospital’s emergency room, operating room, or general pediatric floor when a higher level of care and monitoring is needed.
Children brought to the unit depend on a team of specialists to diagnose and treat them. Since the PICU cares for a wide spectrum of life-threatening illnesses and injuries, the staff must keep up-to-date on treating everything from head injuries to cancer. Patients at a comprehensive regional pediatric care center are assured of a full continuum of care from a network of pediatric specialists trained to diagnose, treat, and care for a broad range of pediatric illnessesincluding cardiology, pulmonology, orthopedics, oncology, hematology, and neurology – without being transferred to a larger city, such as Nashville or Atlanta.
Today, Caleb is preparing to start fourth grade at Hopewell Elementary in Cleveland, Tennessee and keeps busy with his two brothers and sister. He continues to receive follow up care from Children’s Hospital’s pediatric neurologists, but hasn’t had any complications since his surgery. He hopes to play basketball this fall.
The Craigs credit the PICU staff, along with God’s help and guidance, for saving their son’s life. “It’s not every day you see the caliber of teamwork exhibited by the Children’s Hospital PICU,” states Mr. Craig. “Not only is there an unparalleled amount of compassion, but it’s their compassion combined with their level of professionalism and quality of care that makes them world class.”