World Heart Month 2025: An intensive care perspective
Our Children’s Hospital Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) team in our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) are marking World Heart Month this year by looking back on all the achievements of both the unit, colleagues, former colleagues and patients and families.
CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit) is a specialised unit focused on paediatric cardiac care, specifically treating heart-related conditions such as congenital heart defects, heart surgery recovery, and heart failure. Children with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD)will differ from patients on PICU in some ways such as the long-term impact of congenital heart defects. Many paediatric heart patients are born with CHDs, which can range from simple conditions to complex ones that may require multiple surgeries or lifelong management. These defects can affect the structure of the heart and how it functions, requiring constant monitoring and adjustment of care.
CICU Ward Manager, Iffat Chaudhrey said: “Some CHDs are not well understood by the general public. Raising awareness can help reduce misconceptions or stigmas surrounding these conditions, creating a more supportive environment for patients and their families.
“Greater awareness fosters empathy, leading to a more supportive community. Families with children who have heart conditions often face social and emotional challenges, and public awareness can help promote understanding and reduce isolation.”
The theme for World Heart Month this year is ‘Rock Your Scar’ to raise awareness of Cardiac wound care. The team are planning some “Tea Trolley Teaching” around the care of the sternotomy wound in the postoperative period. A sternotomy wound is a cut in the breastbone (sternum) made during heart surgery.
Bedside teaching is also known as “Tea Trolley” teaching. This means nurses educate other nurses in small bite-sized sessions that take about 10-15 minutes. These are not usually in a classroom environment but on the wards with the children. These sessions are often used to recap key skills and teaching that is necessary to improve the quality of care on the ward.
NikkyMarriott, Cardiac Nurse Educator on CICU, has been on our unit since 1995 after going back to train in Paediatrics after graduating in adult nursing back when the unit only had ten beds.
Nikkysaid: “Often the heart function will be impaired in our PICU patients, so even a small amount of cardiac knowledge helps the nurses look after a range of patients.”
The unit doesn’t offer specific training for families. However, they do have the Fontan School. The Fontan operation is the third stage operation for children with univentricular hearts and the aftercare is particularly complicated. The families are invited to Fontan School to learn about the operation and the lifestyle changes the children need.
Nikky said: “It’s on a Saturday morning and is lots of fun. The Play specialists and volunteers from Little Hearts Matter attend along with Lynda one of the Specialist Surgical Practitioners and the Cardiac Nurse Specialists, so it’s a real multi-disciplinary approach to preparing families for the future and gets excellent feedback.”<
Nikky said: “ Working on PICU is so interesting. It's a different day every day I knew working in education was a job I would enjoy as I like to pass on what I know.
“I got into teaching and education because it ticks the boxes of what I want to do. I want to give back. I have had lovely opportunities from so many people taking time out of their day over the years teaching me.
“It is quite nice to invest in our staff because staff
“The service is evolving and it’s an exciting time for us as we make >plans for the future.”
Nikky shared: “There is such a lot to understand about a normal fully functioning heart so that’s where I come in to help our nurses. I can focus on teaching the various congenital heart conditions and explaining how that will affect the patients."
“I know what it feels like for new starters. It can feel overwhelming for new staff when there’s so much to learn."
“When the nurses are confident and knowledgeable about the heart condition the parents feel better supported."
“I am always happy to help explain things to parents if they would like. I often teach at the bedside, and I always introduce myself and explain my role if the parents are present. My job is to break the medical information down into bite-size chunks so that the nurses, patients and families can understand it."
Iffat added: “As a ward manager I try to take time to provide emotional support to families through a listening ear and reassurance during those stressful, difficult moments. As a team, we can listen to parents’ concerns and fears offering empathy and guidance.
“It is important for me to ensure that I provide families with clear communication being honest is crucial in helping families understand their child’s condition.
“Through communication, I help the families so that they are informed and feel heard and confident in the care their child is receiving. This helps reduce feelings of uncertainty and anxiety.”
Nikky said: “Although practical and psychosocial support is available and services have improved over the years, I think there needs to be more ongoing support for families, which is why I am launching a Quality Improvement project to help our medical teams know more about how best to look after and support patients and families as well as looking at doing some ‘tea trolley teaching’ to raise awareness.
“On PICU we have a great Family Liaison multi-disciplinary team who can help support families in different ways.
“The Play specialist runs sibling sessions in school holidays including cinema trips. Marcus, our Charge Nurse holds Pizza Nights for the Dads.”
Check out our website in the coming weeks to find out more about our patients and their cardiac journeys from PICU, to the ward, to starting the journey to going home.