Introduction
heart defects, critically ill, CHD, congenital organ malformations
CRITICALLY ILL
Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most common congenital organ malformations of the newborn with a prevalence of about 8–14 per 1000 newborns [Overall mortality in CHD patients declined significantly during the last decades. This can be attributed to improvements in diagnostics and therapy—among others, in congenital heart surgery procedures itself as well as in pre- and postoperative care at highly specialized pediatric cardiac intensive care units (PCICUs). Nonetheless, preterm infants, neonates, and infants under the age of 1 year with CHD remain a high-risk population for early mortality. Targeted measures to further improve their care are therefore urgently needed.Treating critically ill children in intensive care units (ICUs) is becoming increasingly more complex. Working in multidisciplinary teams has been shown to be an effective approach to improve outcomes for this patient population [Thus, improving communication must be a top priority and can be achieved by discussion and documentation of the patients’ goals during daily rounds. Through the structured recording of these goals, the patients’ medical issues discussed can be transferred into plans of action [The aim of this prospective randomized single-center pilot study was to explore the effect of the implementation of a daily goals checklist on PCICU LOS of patients with CHD after congenital heart surgery procedures.