Highly trained professionals give care in the Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit

By Deanna R. Todd Tzanetos, M.D.

The Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Norton Children’s Hospital is staffed by a dedicated team of highly trained and specialized professionals.

Each morning a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals gather at each patient’s bedside for rounds. The team includes:

• Pediatric intensivists – This dedicated team of specially trained physicians care for patients in the CICU. These physicians specialize in the management of critically ill children with acquired and congenital heart disease. They have expertise in diagnosis and management of respiratory failure, including the use of mechanical ventilation; and cardiogenic shock, including the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and other mechanical cardiac support devices.
• Pediatric cardiologists – These physicians specialize in caring for children with congenital and acquired heart disease. Several of our cardiologists further subspecialize in electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, heart failure and transplant, and adult congenital heart disease.
• Cardiac surgeons – These physicians are focused on the surgical correction of congenital heart disease, insertion of extracorporeal support devices and heart transplantation.
• Neonatologists – These are physicians who care for newborns.
• Acute care certified advanced practice registered nurses – Our nurse practitioners have additional training in caring for children with heart disease and critical illnesses. They are experienced in providing care to pediatric CICU patients.
• CICU nurses – These registered nurses have extensive education in the physiology of congenital heart disease, heart transplantation and extracorporeal support devices. A nurse consultant works exclusively in the CICU to provide expertise, mentoring and education to the CICU nursing staff.
• Pharmacists – The CICU has a dedicated pharmacist with expertise in medications used to treat heart disease.
• Registered dietitian – Our dietitian has expertise in the nutritional needs of medically complex patients.

In addition to the rounding team, a large group of allied health professionals provides care and support to our patients and their families. They include a nurse clinician, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, ECMO specialists, child life specialists and pastoral care providers.

Should a CICU patient need additional pediatric subspecialty care, Norton Children’s Hospital’s diverse group of pediatric specialists and surgeons also are available.

Deanna R. Todd Tzanetos, M.D., is medical director of the Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and is a pediatric critical care specialist with Norton Children’s Critical Care, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine.