Pediatric intensive care: who, why, and how much.

The impact of acute disease, chronic disease, age, and therapeutic goals on resource utilization was evaluated by surveying 397 consecutive admissions to a pediatric ICU. Resource consumption was estimated using ICU days of care and the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System. Resource consumption was greatest for patients with the therapeutic goal of palliation with hope for definitive repair in the future, patients with acute congenital disease, and children less than one month of age. Significant chronic disease was common (33.5%) but was not associated with increased resource consumption.