Do you have a favorite peds critical care magazine?

I've never been able to find a print journal geared for peds crticial care. There is one for neonatal (Neonatal Network from the National Association of Neonatal Nurses) but nothing similar for peds. Some adult critical care journals will have articles on peds topics, but they're often buried. It's a real gap in the academic world that we don't rate some kind of journal of our own, considering that we PICU nurses have a really broad range of patients and conditions we could be educating ourselves about. Maybe there's someone out there who has better information... I hope!

janfrn-

What would this hypothetical peds crit care mag contain? In other words, what areas would you like to see covered in a mag like this?

There are dozens of cardiac defects that could be covered, perhaps in a series and moving from simple to most complex.

There are literally thousands of syndromes that bring children into the PICU, either directly or due to complications. Things like spinal muscular atrophy, Bowen-Conradi syndrome, Friedreich's ataxia, cystic fibrosis, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and so many others. It's always nice to know something about a patient's underlying condition and how it will affect care, don't you think?

There are many infections that are seen primarily in children or that have much higher virulence in children, like RSV, adenovirus pneumonia, pertussis, rheumatic fever (yes, it's still around... we've got a kid recovering from a REALLY bad case right now), the meningitides, and more.

Children have different effects from many medications compared to adults and the dosing is often not obvious, since for some the doses are much higher in kids and others are considerably smaller. And there are many drugs we use all the time that there either is no pediatric data about, or are "not recommended for use in children". Articles about some of these would be very helpful.

Pediatric trauma takes many forms and there could be a lot of different approaches taken to provide educational articles. And how about peds transplantation issues? Family-centered care, care-by-parent, sibling inclusion, child-lfe methodology... The possibilities are endless.

Well I ask, because I've published some mag articles, (as well as reporting for the Cochise Catalyst and my recent book) and I've always wanted to see what it would take to put out a magazine that's not only interesting, but will SELL!!

How about this journal although if I'm reading right it looks very expensive.

www.pccmjournal.com

Pediatric Critical Care Medicine is a very good resource - for physicians. Although they say it's intended audience includes nurses, there's very little nuring-specific content. It's mostly complex pathophysiology and medical management, and very heavy on research. And you're right, it's VERY expensive... $149 for 6 issues ($186 for me, plus exchange and GST)... which puts it out of reach for a lot of us.

The PCCM website has a decent amount of freely accessible information in their file cabinet, and I've used it many times. But I can't see spending that kind of money on a journal that isn't going to meet my nursing needs.

That's a shame that the journal is so expensive. Sounds like there is a huge need for a nursing journal for PICU. I am surprised that there isn't one. PICU nurses do take care of such a wide variety of diseases/diagnosis.

I guess I am spoiled with my 3 Neonatal Nursing journals I get

The AACN occasionally has PICU specific articles, but not many. Maybe this is a sign more of us PICU folks need to be more proliferative in our professional writing and research. I know there has to be a need for nursing specific information- just look at our forum!!

I go on-line a bunch- www.sccm.org- society of critical care medicine has pediatric specific information. Like Jan says, it is medically focused, but is good information and up to date research.

Let us know if you find anything more out there!

Dimensions in Critical Care Nursing is certainly worth a read.
thx,
m