Pediatric Critical Care

Severe asthma attacks can be life-threatening when the child has great difficulty breathing, is wheezing or gasping for air, and the inhaler is not helping.

This condition — which typically occurs in critically ill or injured patients — develops when the lungs are filled with fluids and don’t have enough air, causing breathing difficulty. It often stems from pneumonia or a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, which often resembles a cold.

Some infections are emergencies, such as breathing difficulty. For example, a child with pneumonia may have fast breathing and wheezing.

If your child is seriously injured, their condition may need to be monitored. Some trauma patients spend time in pediatric intensive care until they are stable.

This refers to irregular heartbeats and heart failure. Heart failure in children could be a result of a heart defect or a viral infection. Your child could have trouble with breathing and feeding. Sometimes the symptoms can look like other respiratory infections, such as pneumonia.

There are three types of shock in children: hypovolemic shock, hemorrhagic shock, and septic shock. A significant loss of blood or fluid from vomiting, diarrhea, or trauma are the main reasons for hypovolemic shock or hemorrhagic shock. Septic shock is a result of infection. Any shock is a life-threatening emergency because your blood pressure could drop suddenly and the airway could narrow.

High fever, diarrhea, and vomiting are common causes of dehydration in children. If your body is severely missing the amount of water it needs to function properly, complications such as kidney problems and seizures can occur.