Objective: To describe a unique experience providing critical care to infants and children in Haiti 3 months after a major earthquake.
Design: Observational.
Setting: Field medical facility in a developing country.
Patients: Infants and children admitted to a combined neonatal and pediatric intensive care unit between April 17 and 24, 2010.
Interventions: None.
Measurements and main results: Nine infants and 20 children were admitted to an intensive care unit with eight cots and ten infant beds over a 1-wk period. Central nervous system and infectious diseases were the most common reasons for intensive care unit admission. Nine of 20 (45%) children died before hospital discharge. Survivors represented a cohort of children with acute, reversible disease.
Conclusions: Pediatric critical care can be implemented in low-income countries but requires significant resource use and careful patient selection. Consideration should be paid to the costs of delivering critical care in developing countries, which can inadvertently appropriate resources that have a larger impact on pediatric public health.