2021 World PICU Awareness Week & Day

The World PICU Awareness Week Committee exists to raise awareness about #PedsICU in general and any important themes impacting the specialty by engaging members and key stakeholders in awareness and advocacy activities at a global and regional level.  This 7 day event culminates in World PICU Awareness Day on the 2nd Friday of May, annually.

  • Chairs:  Ann-Marie Brown & Luca Tortorolo
  • Sandy Staveski, USA, North America
  • Yonca Bulut, USA, North America / Turkey, Asia
  • Nate Serazin, USA, North America
  • Charlene Pringle, USA, North America
  • Kristen Waddell, USA, North America
  • Ivie D. Esangbedo, USA, North America/ Nigeria, Africa
  • Jodi Mullen, USA, North America
  • Colleen Breen, Canada, North America
  • Blythe Pollack, USA, North America
  • Mary Lihinie deAlmeida, USA, North America
  • Sebastian Godoy Salinas, Chile, Latin America
  • Adriana Ramírez Barrientos, Colombia, Latin America
  • Natalia Andrea Henao Murilllo, Colombia, Latin America
  • Santiago Martínez , Chile, Latin America
  • Leonor Varela, Ecuador, Latin America
  • Werther Brunow de Carvalho, Brazil, Latin America
  • Cintia Johnston, Brazil, Latin America
  • Veronica Dubay, Argentina, Latin America
  • Felipe Verscheure, Chile, Latin America
  • Milagros López, Peru, Latin America
  • Milind Jambagi, India, Asia
  • Rakshay Shetty, India, Asia
  • Deepika Harish, India, Asia
  • Hwa Jin Cho, South Korea, Asia
  • Rodelia G. Cipriano, The Philippines, Asia
  • Alvin C. Florentino, The Philippines, Asia
  • Mellinor A. Ang, The Philippines, Asia
  • Qalab Abbas, Pakistan, Asia
  • Sidra Ishaque, Pakistan, Asia
  • Debbie Long, Australia, Oceania
  • Paul Holmes, Australia, Oceania
  • Sarah Wright, Australia, Oceania
  • Ali Ferguson, Australia, Oceania
  • Brenda Morrow, South Africa, Africa
  • Irene Chueu, South Africa, Africa
  • Aser Mehemed, Libya, Africa
  • Beyra Rossouw, South Africa, Africa
  • Ilse Appel, South Africa, Africa
  • Manal Alasnag, Saudi Arabia, Middle East
  • Maha Ahmad, Saudi Arabia, Middle East
  • Feras Abu Dayeh, Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • Miguel Rodríguez Rubio, Spain, Europe
  • Martin Kneijber, The Netherlands, Europe
  • Akash Deep, UK, Europe
  • Anna Zanin, Italy, Europe
  • Simon Gates, UK, Europe
  • Pauline Janssen-Raymkers, The Netherlands, Europe
  • Bianka Rama, Italy, Europe

2021 World PICU Awareness Week theme

This year’s campaign will focus on the theme The state of the PICU(s) regionally

Objective

World PICU Awareness Week 2021 celebrates the strength, diversity, and collaboration of paediatric intensive care professionals around the globe. Through regionally led webinars and discussions, each focusing on the state of the PICU in their part of the world, the initiative aims to highlight shared challenges, showcase local innovations, and promote global learning. The week culminates in World PICU Day, organized by WFPICCS, uniting all regions in reflection and dialogue on the evolving future of paediatric critical care.

Key takeaways

Global collaboration strengthens local care

By sharing experiences from every region - from high-resource to resource-limited settings - participants discover how collective knowledge can improve outcomes and inspire innovation at the bedside.

Multidisciplinary teamwork transforms patient outcomes

Each webinar underlines how physicians, nurses, allied health professionals, and families together shape the quality and humanity of care in the PICU.

Awareness drives progress

Highlighting regional realities and celebrating global unity raises visibility for paediatric critical care, advancing advocacy, education, and research across all corners of the world

Daily program during 2021 World PICU Awareness Week

May 8

North America

Title: A day in the life in the PICU – a North American perspective

Objective: To highlight the multi-disciplinary nature of our respective PICUs by having colleagues from different disciplines discuss their role in the PICU and reflect on the question of what is made possible for our patients through collaboration

May 9

Latin America & Caribbean

Title:  PICUs in Latin America

  1. Reality of health professionals working in pediatric intensive care units in Latin American
    countries / Realidad de los profesionales que trabajan en las UCIPs de los paises de latinoamerica (PT. Sebastián Godoy Salinas, Chile).
  2. Role of the family in the PICU / La familia en las unidades de paciente critico pediatrico.  (Nurse Natalia Henao, Nurse Adriana Ramirez, Colombia)
  3. Collaborative multidisciplinary research group for the production of scientific evidence in
    Latin America, in pediatric intensive care /Investigación clínica multiprofesional en UTI Pediatrica en Latinoamerica. (PT. PhD. Cintia Johnston, Brazil)

 

Moderators: Werther Brunow Carvalho and Pietro Pietroboni

May 10

Oceania

Title: From Outback to Critical Care

The team from Oceania present the challenges faced in supporting paediatric critical services across the diverse state of Queensland. They look at the changes in culture within PICU and the positive impact on children, families and the workforce and then look to the future in team working. This is translated into the current collaborative global research being undertaken and lessons learnt are shared.

Presentations – Speakers

  1. Paediatric Critical Care Retrievals in Queensland: Paul Holmes (Director); Ann Maree Brady (Clinical Nurse Consultant); Florian Pracher (PICU Staff Specialist), Australia
  2. Cultural Change in PICU: Liberation & staff wellbeing
  3. Alexandra (Ali) Ferguson, (Physiotherapist Advanced Critical Care); Rahul Joshi, (Staff Specialist PICU/CCCU),  Australia
  4. Future Directions: team working & research collaborations: Paula Lister (Director PCCU); Debbie Long (Assoc. Prof, QUT School of Nursing), Australia

May 11

Africa

Title: Critical Care Diversity in Africa – Building capacity

Presentations – Speakers

  1. Critical care needs across Africa – Elizabeth Molyneux (Malawi, Paediatrics)
  2.  Training in Critical care, African Fellowship Program – Charlyne Kilba (Ghana, PICU)
  3. Setting up PICU where none previously available John Appiah  (Ghana, PICU)
  4. Using high tech in low tech environments (Peritoneal Dialysis)– Mignon McCulloch (South Africa, PICU, Renal)
  5. Nursing perspectives throughout Africa in Critical Care – Minette Coetzee (South Africa, Paediatric Critical Care Nursing)
  6. Covid response in resource limited setting – Ilse Appel, Noor Parker  (South Africa, PICU)

May 12

Asia

Title: Current state of PICUs in Asia: learning from the past and embracing the future

Introduction and inauguration of the ‘World PICU awareness week 2021’ to the audience – live by the committee members.

  1. The past – challenges and barriers in PICU in Asia – Alvin C. Florentino, Mellinor A. Ang, Rodelia G. Cipriano (The Philippines)
  2. Current state and scope of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Training in Asia – Milind Jambagi (India)
  3. Current state and scope of Pediatric Critical Care Nursing in Asia – Deepika Harish (India)
  4. Challenges and Priorities for the Pediatric Critical Care Physician in the LMICs – Sidra Ishaque (Pakistan)
  5. Impact and Potential opportunities of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine in LMICs – Qalab Abbas (Pakistan)
  6. Status and scope of research in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine in Asia – Hwa Jin Cho (South Korea)
  7. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine in LMICs & Asia: Future directions?  – Rakshay Shetty (India)

May 13

Europe/Middle East

Theme: Extending the boundaries of multi-disciplinary research through collaboration

Objective:  Focusing on critical care research, we will discuss what people do in different areas within our regions.  More specifically, we will be looking at how research can be encouraged and streamlined and how we can collaborate across disciplines and continents.

  1. Collaborative International Research Moving Forwards In The Face Of Challenges -Waleed Alhazzani (Canada)
  2. Nursing Lead In Collaborative Research – Joseph Manning (UK) & Paulien Raymakers- Janssen (The Netherlands)
  3. Navigating Funding and legislation – Mark Peters (UK)
  4. Epidemiology, Datasets and Collaborative Research: what does the field need to know? – Robert Tasker (UK)

May 14

World PICU Day

Welcome and opening by WFPICCS President, Satoshi Nakagawa; WFPICCS President-elect, Brenda Morrow; WFPICCS Vice President Nursing & World PICU Awareness Week Committee Co-Chair Ann-Marie and World PICU Awareness Week Committee Co-Chair, Luca Tortorolo.

Three (3)  interdisciplinary reps from each region will be asked the same three (3) questions:

  1. What is changing now in your PICU that will have the most lasting impact in your multidisciplinary PICU care?
  2. What is the biggest challenge you see in your PICU practice in the next 5 years?
  3. What do you see as the role of the family in improving PICU outcomes?