Clinical pharmacists are a part of the integrated health care team and provide valuable input on medication management for patients with acute and chronic disease states. Using epilepsy as a model, pharmacist involvement in patient care has been associated with significant reductions in monthly seizure frequency. Given differences in etiology, pediatric patients with epilepsy are likely to have higher number of treatments, with additional pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic differences, adding to the importance of utilizing a pediatric clinical pharmacist practitioner with neuropharmacology expertise. There is an increasing exposure to critically ill patients with epilepsy and other neurological disorders in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). These patients are more medically complex, increasing the risk for medication errors and increased health care costs. Emphasis on neurocritical care education is a vital component to improving patient outcomes. Inclusion of a clinical pharmacist practitioner in these settings yields a positive impact on major health outcomes. In 2018, the Neurocritical Care Society developed consensus recommendations on the standards for the development of adult neurocritical care units. A pharmacist-delivered pediatric critical care neuropharmacology rotation represents a novel approach to expanding physician education to improve patient outcomes. While there are sparse publications highlighting the importance of adult critical care and NCC pharmacists, no such literature exists describing the benefits of pediatric neurocritical care (PNCC) pharmacists. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first manuscript describing the role of clinical pharmacist practitioners in the development of PNCC program and the benefits they provide to patient care and education.

Inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) include a wide spectrum of autoimmune, autoinflammatory, and paraneoplastic diseases. While many affected patients require acute hospital admission, a subset may present with severe neurological symptoms requiring intensive care unit (ICU) escalation due to disordered consciousness, respiratory failure, status epilepticus, intracranial hypertension, and/or severe autonomic dysregulation.

The post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) concept whereby the ICU experience of the patient as well as their family can have long-term deleterious health outcomes in both the patient and the family provides a rationale and impetus for modifying the ICU experience for the parents of patients receiving pediatric neurocritical care. This article uses the PICS framework to provide insight to that parental experience. Included are the words of parents who tell what they felt and what they most needed from their children\'s doctors while their children were receiving neurocritical care. Based on their and many other ICU parents\' advice and the PICS research, we identify a short list of specific steps the medical team can take immediately to support these parents.

BACKGROUND: The ictal-interictal continuum (IIC) consists of several electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns that are common in critically ill adults. Studies focused on the IIC are limited in critically ill children and have focused primarily on associations with electrographic seizures (ESs). We report the incidence of the IIC in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). We then compare IIC patterns to rhythmic and periodic patterns (RPP) not meeting IIC criteria looking for associations with acute cerebral abnormalities, ES, and in-hospital mortality.
METHODS: This was a retrospective review of prospectively collected data for patients admitted to the PICU at Children\'s National Hospital from July 2021 to January 2023 with continuous EEG. We excluded patients with known epilepsy and cerebral injury prior to presentation. All patients were screened for RPP. The American Clinical Neurophysiology Society standardized Critical Care EEG terminology for the IIC was applied to each RPP. Associations between IIC and RPP not meeting IIC criteria, with clinical and EEG variables, were calculated using odds ratios (ORs).
RESULTS: Of 201 patients, 21% (42/201) had RPP and 12% (24/201) met IIC criteria. Among patients with an IIC pattern, the median age was 3.4 years (interquartile range (IQR) 0.6-12 years). Sixty-seven percent (16/24) of patients met a single IIC criterion, whereas the remainder met two criteria. ESs were identified in 83% (20/24) of patients and cerebral injury was identified in 96% (23/24) of patients with IIC patterns. When comparing patients with IIC patterns with those with RPP not qualifying as an IIC pattern, both patterns were associated with acute cerebral abnormalities (IIC OR 26 [95% confidence interval {CI} 3.4-197], p = 0.0016 vs. RPP OR 3.5 [95% CI 1.1-11], p = 0.03), however, only the IIC was associated with ES (OR 121 [95% CI 33-451], p < 0.0001) versus RPP (OR 1.3 [0.4-5], p = 0.7).
CONCLUSIONS: Rhythmic and periodic patterns and subsequently the IIC are commonly seen in the PICU and carry a high association with cerebral injury. Additionally, the IIC, seen in more than 10% of critically ill children, is associated with ES. The independent impact of RPP and IIC patterns on secondary brain injury and need for treatment of these patterns independent of ES requires further study.

BACKGROUND: Children with severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) are at risk for neurological sequelae impacting function. Clinicians are tasked with neuroprognostication to assist in decision-making. We describe a single-center study assessing clinicians\' neuroprognostication accuracy.
METHODS: Clinicians of various specialties caring for children with sTBI were asked to predict their patients\' functioning three to six months postinjury. Clinicians were asked to participate in the study if their patient had survived but not returned to baseline between day 4 and 7 postinjury. The outcome tool utilized was the functional status scale (FSS), ranging from 6 to 30 (best-worst function). Predicted scores were compared with actual scores three to six months postinjury. Lin concordance correlation coefficients were used to estimate agreement between predicted and actual FSS. Outcome was dichotomized as good (FSS 6 to 8) or poor (FSS ≥9). Positive and negative predictive values for poor outcome were calculated. Pessimistic prognostic prediction was defined as predicted worse outcome by ≥3 FSS points. Demographic and clinical variables were collected.
RESULTS: A total of 107 surveys were collected on 24 patients. Two children died. Fifteen children had complete (FSS = 6) or near-complete (FSS = 7) recovery. Mean predicted and actual FSS scores were 10.8 (S.D. 5.6) and 8.6 (S.D. 4.1), respectively. Predicted FSS scores were higher than actual scores (P < 0.001). Eight children had collective pessimistic prognostic prediction.
CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians predicted worse functional outcomes, despite high percentage of patients with near-normal function at follow-up clinic. Certain patient and provider factors were noted to impact accuracy and need to be studied in larger cohorts.

BACKGROUND: Many children with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) receive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during hospitalization. There are insufficient data on how different patterns of injury on early MRI inform outcomes.
METHODS: Children (3-17 years) admitted in 2010-2021 for severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score < 9) were identified using our site\'s trauma registry. We used multivariable modeling to determine whether the hemorrhagic diffuse axonal injury (DAI) grade and the number of regions with restricted diffusion (subcortical white matter, corpus callosum, deep gray matter, and brainstem) on MRI obtained within 7 days of injury were independently associated with time to follow commands and with Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM) scores at the time of discharge from inpatient rehabilitation. We controlled for the clinical variables age, preadmission cardiopulmonary resuscitation, pupil reactivity, motor GCS score, and fever (> 38 °C) in the first 12 h.
RESULTS: Of 260 patients, 136 (52%) underwent MRI within 7 days of injury at a median of 3 days (interquartile range [IQR] 2-4). Patients with early MRI were a median age of 11 years (IQR 7-14), 8 (6%) patients received cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 19 (14%) patients had bilateral unreactive pupils, the median motor GCS score was 1 (IQR 1-4), and 82 (60%) patients had fever. Grade 3 DAI was present in 46 (34%) patients, and restricted diffusion was noted in the corpus callosum in 75 (55%) patients, deep gray matter in 29 (21%) patients, subcortical white matter in 23 (17%) patients, and the brainstem in 20 (15%) patients. After controlling for clinical variables, an increased number of regions with restricted diffusion, but not hemorrhagic DAI grade, was independently associated with longer time to follow commands (hazard ratio 0.68, 95% confidence interval 0.53-0.89) and worse WeeFIM scores (estimate β - 4.67, 95% confidence interval - 8.33 to - 1.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Regional restricted diffusion on early MRI is independently associated with short-term outcomes in children with severe TBI. Multicenter cohort studies are needed to validate these findings and elucidate the association of early MRI features with long-term outcomes in children with severe TBI.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric refractory status epilepticus (RSE) often requires management with anesthetic infusions, but few data compare first-line anesthetics. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and adverse effects of midazolam and ketamine infusions as first-line anesthetics for pediatric RSE.
METHODS: Retrospective single-center study of consecutive study participants treated with ketamine or midazolam as the first-line anesthetic infusions for RSE at a quaternary care children\'s hospital from December 1, 2017, until September 15, 2021.
RESULTS: We identified 117 study participants (28 neonates), including 79 (68%) who received midazolam and 38 (32%) who received ketamine as the first-line anesthetic infusions. Seizures terminated more often in study participants administered ketamine (61%, 23/38) than midazolam (28%, 22/79; odds ratio [OR] 3.97, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.76-8.98; P < 0.01). Adverse effects occurred more often in study participants administered midazolam (24%, 20/79) than ketamine (3%, 1/38; OR 12.54, 95% CI 1.61-97.43; P = 0.016). Study participants administered ketamine were younger, ketamine was used more often for children with acute symptomatic seizures, and midazolam was used more often for children with epilepsy. Multivariable logistic regression of seizure termination by first-line anesthetic infusion (ketamine or midazolam) including age at SE onset, SE etiology category, and individual seizure duration at anesthetic infusion initiation indicated seizures were more likely to terminate following ketamine than midazolam (OR 4.00, 95% CI 1.69-9.49; P = 0.002) and adverse effects were more likely following midazolam than ketamine (OR 13.41, 95% CI 1.61-111.04; P = 0.016). Survival to discharge was higher among study participants who received midazolam (82%, 65/79) than ketamine (55%, 21/38; P = 0.002), although treating clinicians did not attribute any deaths to ketamine or midazolam.
CONCLUSIONS: Among children and neonates with RSE, ketamine was more often followed by seizure termination and less often associated with adverse effects than midazolam when administered as the first-line anesthetic infusion. Further prospective data are needed to compare first-line anesthetics for RSE.

The field of pediatric neurocritical care (PNCC) has expanded and evolved over the last three decades. As mortality from pediatric critical care illness has declined, morbidity from neurodevelopmental disorders has expanded. PNCC clinicians have adopted a multidisciplinary approach to rapidly identify neurological injury, implement neuroprotective therapies, minimize secondary neurological insults, and establish transitions of care, all with the goal of improving neurocognitive outcomes for their patients. Although there are many aspects of PNCC and adult neurocritical care (NCC) medicine that are similar, elemental difference between adult and pediatric medicine has contributed to a divergent evolution of the respective fields. The low incidence of pediatric critical care illness, the heterogeneity of neurological insults, and the limited availability of resources all shape the need for a PNCC clinical care model that is distinct from the established paradigm adopted by the adult neurocritical care community at large. Considerations of neurodevelopment are fundamental in pediatrics. When neurological injury occurs in a child, the neurodevelopmental stage at the time of insult alters the impact of the neurological disease. Developmental variables contribute to a range of outcomes for seemingly similar injuries. Despite the relative infancy of the field of PNCC, early reports have shown that implementation of a specialized PNCC service elevates the quality and safety of care, promotes education and communication, and improves outcomes for children with acute neurological injuries. The multidisciplinary approach of PNCC clinicians and researchers also promotes a culture that emphasizes the importance of quality improvement and education initiatives, as well as development of and adherence to evidence-based guidelines and family-focused care models.

Acute neurologic injuries represent a common cause of morbidity and mortality in children presenting to the pediatric intensive care unit. After primary neurologic insults, there may be cerebral brain tissue that remains at risk of secondary insults, which can lead to worsening neurologic injury and unfavorable outcomes. A fundamental goal of pediatric neurocritical care is to mitigate the impact of secondary neurologic injury and improve neurologic outcomes for critically ill children. This review describes the physiologic framework by which strategies in pediatric neurocritical care are designed to reduce the impact of secondary brain injury and improve functional outcomes. Here, we present current and emerging strategies for optimizing neuroprotective strategies in critically ill children.

BACKGROUND: Noninvasive neuromonitoring in critically ill children includes multiple modalities that all intend to improve our understanding of acute and ongoing brain injury.
METHODS: In this article, we review basic methods and devices, applications in clinical care and research, and explore potential future directions for three noninvasive neuromonitoring modalities in the pediatric intensive care unit: automated pupillometry, near-infrared spectroscopy, and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography.
RESULTS: All three technologies are noninvasive, portable, and easily repeatable to allow for serial measurements and trending of data over time. However, a paucity of high-quality data supporting the clinical utility of any of these technologies in critically ill children is currently a major limitation to their widespread application in the pediatric intensive care unit.
CONCLUSIONS: Future prospective multicenter work addressing major knowledge gaps is necessary to advance the field of pediatric noninvasive neuromonitoring.