PROFILE OF PAEDIATRIC PATIENTS TRANSFERRED TO THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Abstract

To describe the epidemiological and clinical profile of pediatric patients admitted to a secondary hospital who were transferred to the intensive care unit, as well as to report the final outcome after 30 days of transfer to the ICU. This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted by the medical, nursing, and general hospital nursing coordinations, a pediatrician, and an academic nursing student in a pediatric ward. The participant sample included patients admitted to a pediatric ward who were transferred to the intensive care unit from January to December 2023, in a secondary hospital in Ceará. Data were collected from physical medical records, electronic medical records, and ICU transfer management spreadsheets. The information was recorded through Google Forms, generating a database stored in a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet. The variables were categorized for better data analysis, and absolute and relative frequencies were calculated and presented in the form of tables and figures. There were a total of 89 transfers from the pediatric clinical bed ward to the pediatric ICU, 69.7% of whom were males and 30.3% were females. Regarding the age group, 53.9% of the transfers corresponded to children up to 2 years of age. We observed that 32.6% of the transfers to the pediatric ICU were performed within 24 hours of admission to the ward and 13.5% were transferred between 24 hours and 48 hours of admission. The outcome within 30 days of ICU transfer showed a favorable outcome, corresponding to 93.3% of the patients. The present study collects epidemiological data from a pediatric unit, favoring the knowledge of its profile for managers and employees.