Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) serves critically ill children who need highly specialized care and continuous monitoring. Our patients include kids who are suffering from a life-threatening condition as well as those who are recovering from surgery.

Our doctors and nurses helped pioneer special techniques for treating children who are this sick, and we continue to deliver the highest-quality care, using the most advanced technologies available. Because of the level of care we provide, patients come to us from across the Western United States.

Many kinds of providers are involved in caring for our patients. The PICU team includes pediatric critical care specialists (pediatricians trained in treating very sick children), respiratory therapists, dietitians, pharmacists and social workers. Our patients also have access to a wide range of other pediatric specialists as well as physical therapists, occupational therapists and child life specialists, who comfort kids and help them adapt to being in a hospital.

Recognizing how stressful serious illness is for kids and their loved ones, we support families as much as possible during their child's stay and encourage parents and guardians to spend as much time as they can with their hospitalized child.

The PICU is part of the Neonatal Cardiovascular Center of Excellence, which cares for premature and critically ill infants with congenital heart defects with the aim of supporting their long-term cardiovascular health and neurological development.

Why families choose us

Subspecialty expertise

Our patients have access to experts in more than 50 pediatric subspecialties here at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, including neurosurgery, heart and lung surgery, orthopedics, general surgery, cardiology, pulmonology, hematology, oncology, and blood and marrow transplant. To provide the best, most thorough care possible, several types of doctors may participate in a patient's treatment.

Modern facilities

Our PICUs in both Oakland and San Francisco are modern, state-of-the-art and built to serve young patients and their families. From the large, sunlit private rooms that comfortably accommodate a parent's overnight stay to the uplifting artwork throughout the units, our facilities support rest and healing. They're also equipped with the most advanced technologies available.

Child-focused care

Our team focuses exclusively on caring for kids. Our equipment is child-sized, and we know the treatment protocols that work best for infants and children. Patient care in the PICU is always delivered in a developmentally appropriate, compassionate manner.

Expert support staff

We attract and retain exceptional critical care nurses and nurse specialists, and many of them have been with us for decades. Other key members of the team include respiratory therapists, dietitians, pharmacists and social workers.

Continuity of care

Thanks to our wide range of specialties and services, many PICU patients are able to receive whatever follow-up care they need within UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.