The PICU admission is full of medical language and terminology that can be confronting or confusing. As advocate for your child, it is important that you are able to understand the plan of treatment/care for your child so that you can make important decisions, and you can only do that if you can understand terminology and language used.

Always ask the medical staff questions if you are unclear or need help understanding medical terminology, or have other questions.

There are also some tools below to help you better understand medical terminology and language used, that you can read while at the bedside or at home/accomodation.

Children’s Health Queensland factsheets/dictionary (web browser):

Children’s Health Queensland have a list of factsheets on medical procedures, equipment, and other terminology. Click here to view in English, or here to view in other languages (Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Swahili, and Somali).

Royal Children’s Hospital (Melbourne) factsheets/dictionary (web browser or mobile app):

Additionally, the Royal Children’s Hospital (Melbourne) have also developed a list of factsheets of common illnesses, injuries, and terms that you may hear in hospital. Click here to see the webpage, or here to download the app.