Critical Care

The Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Children’s Health is the regional leader in state-of-the-art care of critically ill infants, children and adolescents in South Carolina. Opening in 1987, the interdisciplinary pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at MUSC is a 28-bed medical-surgical unit staffed by 11 board certified pediatric intensivists, two nurse practitioners, as well as highly skilled and specially trained pediatric nurses, respiratory therapists, clinical pharmacists, child life specialists, physical, occupational and speech therapists, nurse case managers, and dieticians. MUSC Children’s Health has a separate 29-bed heart center. Our pediatric critical care team believes in family-centered care and strives to include patients and families in shared decision-making throughout their stay.

The MUSC PICU offers telemedicine to many referral institutions throughout the state. Emergency medicine and inpatient pediatricians from several Lowcountry hospitals can call in to request a telemedicine consultation by MUSC pediatric intensivists. These video links provide a valuable opportunity to see the patient, meet the family, and offer timely medical advice to the referral team.

MUSC was the first South Carolina children’s hospital to receive the Level I Trauma Center designation by the American College of Surgeons and is the sole pediatric solid organ transplant center for SC. In addition, our pediatric surgical colleagues and burn nurses provide outstanding care for the state’s only pediatric burn program. We have a dedicated hydrotherapy treatment room within the intensive care unit to help care for these patients.

Training Programs

The Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine is active in education. Teaching is both at the bedside and through formal lectures. Students from many disciplines rotate through the intensive care unit and partake in the various forms of education.  These learners include nursing, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, nutrition, and medical students as well as pediatric and emergency medicine resident physicians and fellows of pediatric emergency medicine, pediatric anesthesia, pediatric cardiac intensive care, and pediatric hospital medicine.

Research Programs

• The Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine participates in several NIH-funded multicenter research networks, including the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators network (PALISI; www.palisi.org) and the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN; www.cpccrn.org).
• MUSC Children's Health is an active participant in Solutions for Patient Safety, Child Health PSO, & Improving Sepsis Outcomes collaboratives.

Clinical Services

• Comprehensive management of the critically ill or injured pediatric patient 

• Conventional mechanical ventilation

• High-frequency mechanical ventilation

• Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation

• Inhaled nitric oxide

• Hemodynamic management

• Ultrasound guided vascular access

• Pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)

• Continuous renal replacement therapies (CRRT)

• Continuous video electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring

• Intracranial pressure monitoring

Contact Us

Brian Bridges, M.D., FAAP
Division Chief
bridgbri@musc.edu

MUSC Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Attn: Elyse Watson
125 Doughty Street, Ste 570
Charleston, SC 29425
Phone: 843-792-2618
Fax: 843-792-3022
Email: pedscritical@musc.edu