Sapna Kudchadkar is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Pediatrics and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her areas of interest include sleep disturbances in critically ill children, paediatric delirium prevention and management, sedation, and paediatric ICU rehabilitation and mobility.
What are your key areas of interest and research?
My key areas of interest and research are liberating the critically ill child, which includes optimising sleep, delirium prevention and goal-directed sedation and rehabilitation.
What are the major challenges in your field?
The major challenges in my field will always be the paradigm shift that I'm working to promote. We have an ingrained culture of immobility in the intensive care unit environment-trying to change that is the first step in order to be able to move forward.
What is your top management tip?
I believe that it is absolutely a multidisciplinary team effort. You must find champions that are invested regardless of the area that you're trying to change. Getting a team in place and making sure your team members feel valued for the hard work that they're doing on a daily basis is integral to achieving that change.
What would you single out as a career highlight?
I think that the career highlight for me will always be when parents and staff tell me what a positive impact PICU Up! had on their child’s and their experience duringthe ICU stay. It means we’ve made a difference no matter how large or small.
