"One of the top ten websites in critical care medicine education today"
(Wolbrink et al, Journal of Intensive Care Medicine 2018)
Welcome to LearnPICU. This site contains summaries of core topics in pediatric critical care medicine. Each topic also has associated practice board-type questions, supporting references, and summaries of seminal articles. Whether you are a medical student or a seasoned intensivist, we hope you find the resources here helpful.
Recent News
January 21 New International Consensus Definitions for Pediatric Sepsis and Septic shock have been published. A Phoenix sepsis score of at least 2 identified potentially life threatening organ dysfunction in children younger than 18 with infection.
December 1 OXY-PICU RCT demonstrates among invasively ventilated children who were admitted as an emergency to a PICU receiving supplemental oxygen, a conservative oxygenation target (SpO2 88-92%) resulted in a small, but significant, greater probability of a better outcome in terms of duration of organ support at 30 days or death when compared with a liberal oxygenation target (SpO2 >94%).
October 16 Multicenter RCT demonstrated lower levels of AKI when receiving boluses of multiple electrolyte solution (balanced fluids) vs. normal saline in pediatric patients with septic shock. (Sankar, J et al CCM November 2023)
October 11 New Pediatric and adult brain death guidelines published (Greer M et al, Neurology 2023)
May 17 Google Sites Classic (the platform LearnPICU was built on) has been retired and so LearnPICU has been migrated to the new Google Sites. While this will offer some new functionality, please excuse any issues with the transition. Please feel free to reach out and we'll continue to ensure that LearnPICU runs smoothly on the new platform!
The site is also known as Custer's Core Curriculum and was named in honor of Dr. Joseph Custer, founder of the pediatric intensive care unit at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, a teacher and mentor to countless fellows, residents, and medical students, and who taught us that when it comes down to it, "the air goes in and out and the blood goes round and round."
Dr. Joseph Custer
We hope you find the site helpful and welcome any comments or suggestions to improve its content and usefulness. Please contact Dr. Kevin Kuo, editor of the site, with any comments, questions, or suggestions.