Pediatric Trauma - Hennepin County Medical Center
Pediatric Trauma - Hennepin County Medical Center
Pediatric Trauma - Hennepin County Medical Center
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Critical Care Profile<br />
Q and A withQ and A with<br />
Andrew Kiragu, MD, FAAP<br />
Andrew Kiragu, MD, FAAP<br />
Dr. Andrew Waititu Kiragu is the medical<br />
director of the pediatric intensive care unit<br />
and the co-medical director of the <strong>Pediatric</strong><br />
<strong>Trauma</strong>tic Brain Injury program at<br />
<strong>Hennepin</strong> <strong>County</strong> <strong>Medical</strong> <strong>Center</strong>. He is<br />
also an assistant professor of pediatrics at<br />
the University of Minnesota <strong>Medical</strong><br />
School. He completed his undergraduate<br />
studies at Dalhousie University in Nova<br />
Scotia, Canada, and subsequently<br />
graduated from Howard University in<br />
Washington, D.C., with an MD degree in<br />
1994. Dr. Kiragu served his residency in<br />
internal medicine and pediatrics at the<br />
University of Minnesota followed by a<br />
fellowship in pediatric critical care at the<br />
University where he was one of the Walter<br />
Ramsey Endowment Fellows. During his<br />
fellowship and as a staff physician, he has<br />
received several awards in recognition of<br />
his commitment to resident and medical<br />
school education. Dr. Kiragu was awarded<br />
a Vikings Foundation grant to study the<br />
inflammatory effects of cardiopulmonary<br />
bypass. He was the co-primary investigator<br />
for a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson<br />
Foundation to establish an Injury-Free<br />
Coalition for Kids site in Minnesota at<br />
<strong>Hennepin</strong>, with a goal of studying and<br />
preventing injury prevention here in the<br />
Twin Cities. Dr. Kiragu is board-certified in<br />
pediatrics and pediatric critical care.<br />
Why did you choose pediatrics?<br />
I have always enjoyed being around kids.<br />
The kids seem to get my sometimes goofy<br />
nature. Kids are the most “fun” patients.<br />
When they are well, they are energetic,<br />
curious, funny, loving human beings. Even<br />
if they are really sick, children are quite<br />
resilient. When they recover from their<br />
illnesses, it makes what we do so<br />
worthwhile. When they donʼt get better,<br />
thatʼs the hardest. You grieve for the lost<br />
potential and the pain that the families feel.<br />
When you work in <strong>Pediatric</strong>s, you take<br />
care of more than just the patient. You also<br />
have to be aware of the needs of family<br />
members and friends. We once had a case<br />
of an injured teenager who had a large<br />
group of classmates come to see him. His<br />
family requested that we explain his<br />
injuries to them and so we gathered all<br />
these kids and some of their parents in a<br />
conference room to talk about their friend.<br />
Now that I have my own family (children<br />
ages 9 and 11), it makes me more<br />
cognizant of how fragile and precious life<br />
is. I am always the one saying, “be careful”<br />
to the kids. When we are with friends and<br />
the kids are doing crazy stuff, everyone is<br />
always looking at me to see my reaction.<br />
How has your interest in the care of<br />
critically injured and ill children shaped<br />
your career?<br />
As the director of the pediatric intensive<br />
care unit, by necessity I have to interact<br />
with a variety of people, my physician<br />
colleagues, <strong>Hennepin</strong> staff and leadership.<br />
This takes me beyond my usual clinical<br />
role as a physician. There are a number of<br />
new initiatives with regard to pediatrics we<br />
have undertaken here at <strong>Hennepin</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
<strong>Medical</strong> <strong>Center</strong>, and my colleagues know<br />
that I am available to support these efforts.<br />
If I identify an opportunity to advance the<br />
care of children here at <strong>Hennepin</strong>, I can<br />
bring people together to make it happen. I<br />
enjoy doing that.<br />
I am also involved in the Injury Free<br />
Coalition for Kids (IFCK) and serve as the<br />
principal investigator for IFCK-Minneapolis.<br />
Through this organization, research in the<br />
area of injury prevention is being<br />
conducted to identify which injury<br />
prevention measures are most effective.<br />
Injury prevention education methods and<br />
driving behaviors in teens are among<br />
several topics that we have studied. The<br />
Injury Free Coalition for Kids has worked<br />
with other groups, including AAA-<br />
Minnesota to provide the state legislature<br />
with information useful in improving traffic<br />
laws. I am currently on the boards of<br />
10 | Approaches in Critical Care | June 2011