Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Department

The Pediatric Intensive Care Medicine Department (PICU) of Tongji Hospital was established in 2012, and the Tongji Hospital Critical Children Treatment Center was officially established in 2018. The current academic leader of the discipline is Professor Liu Tonglin. Professor Liu Tonglin serves as a member of the Emergency Care Group of the Pediatric Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, a standing committee member of the Pediatric Critical Care Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, a deputy chair of the Professional Committee for Severe Infections of the Pediatric Critical Care Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, head of the Emergency Care Group of the Hubei Pediatric Society, and chair of the Pediatric Critical Care Special Committee of the Hubei Society of Pathophysiology. The department currently has 2 wards, located respectively in the Hankou Campus and the Optics Valley Campus. It currently has 2 chief physicians, 3 deputy chief physicians, 1 supervisor of master's students, 1 nationally recognized outstanding young physician, 1 young and middle-aged backbone talent of Wuhan, and 1 Huazhong Scholar; multiple physicians and nursing staff hold 23 academic appointments in national-level societies and 16 academic appointments in provincial- and municipal-level societies. The pediatric intensive care units at the two campuses have a total of 40 open beds, all in Class-10,000 laminar-flow wards, with independent negative-pressure isolation rooms and single-patient intensive care rooms (VIP). They constitute one of the modern pediatric wards in Hubei Province with the largest scale, most comprehensive equipment, and most advanced care philosophy. They can perform a full range of techniques, including bedside ultrasound, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, hemodynamic monitoring, electroencephalographic monitoring, mechanical ventilation, blood purification, and ECMO. The department has innovatively summarized a series of distinctive clinical diagnostic, treatment, and nursing technology systems, including: standardized operation and management of pediatric intensive care medicine, humanistic care, and doctor–patient communication models and methods; establishment of a diagnostic and treatment approach to severe pediatric infections centered on sepsis; goal-directed fluid therapy and goal-directed glucocorticoid therapy for critically ill children; advocacy and promotion of a prone-position ventilation therapy for respiratory diseases described as “three-in-one, five-combination sequential”; a non-ECMO comprehensive rescue protocol for pediatric fulminant myocarditis and cardiogenic shock; a distinctive comprehensive rescue protocol for pediatric shock; an early intensified comprehensive protocol for pediatric hemophagocytic syndrome/macrophage activation syndrome, as well as an innovative rapid preparation method for emergency medications and special labeling for microinfusion-pump administration, among others. The department has always adhered to the working principle of “one center, two basic points”: saving vulnerable young lives and safeguarding children’s health! One center: put the patient at the center, devote ourselves wholeheartedly to scholarship, and save lives. Two basic points: ① be diligent in maintaining duty coverage, with emphasis on process and quality management. ② work as a team, with emphasis on doctor–patient communication and humanistic care.