Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU)
The Maxine Clark and Bob Fox Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), located in the Heart Center, cares for the most critically ill cardiac patients. From newborns to young adults, this state-of-the-art 12-bed unit provides every patient and family a private room.
The unit was designed specifically for the acute management of children with pediatric cardiac disease and the preoperative and postoperative surgical care of cardiac patients. Full-term infants who are prenatally diagnosed with a heart condition but have no other neonatal issues also are cared for in the unit.
Take a virtual tour of the CICU
Availability of the new CICU makes cardiac care even more sub-specialized at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. CICUs improve the delivery of quality critical care, providing for more efficient use of cardiac resources.
Twenty-four hour parental presence is encouraged on the unit. Referring physicians calling to check on patient status will be put in touch with the unit’s charge nurse.
CICU Features
Latest technology for patient monitoring - Newest generation of ventilators
- Specialized, portable boom in each room equipped with complete functionality, including oxygen and vacuum
- Computerized documentation
- Individual nursing alcoves outside each room
- CICU rooms serve as operative suites; any emergency or post-operative surgery can be conducted
- Full-service ECMO for mechanical support
- Interventional Radiology suite adjacent to CICU enables cardiac imaging on unit
CICU Staff
Fully staffed with a complete critical care team, CICU physicians include intensivists, cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons dedicated to the care of critically ill children. The unit’s nursing staff is highly trained to care for these patients and have participated in advanced cardiac nursing education modules including care of the ECMO patient population.
