You must have heard people talking about life support, especially in cases where a person is suffering from some serious physical abnormalities. What they are referring to is ventilation, a rescue procedure that majorly comprises one branch in the hospital, namely The Critical Care Unit (Also commonly known as the Intensive Care Unit). Patients usually suffering from conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias, cardiovascular instability (hypotension / hypertension), respiratory or airway restrictions (requiring ventilator support), combined effects of multiple organ failure (Multi Organ Dysfunction Syndrome), and/or acute renal failure need to be admitted, treated, and observed in the Critical Care Unit.
The major advantage of an ICU over other units is that it helps in combined disease management, wherein a team of multiple-organ specialists come together to devise the apt treatment plan and course of healing.
Systematic approach is key to critical/intensive care treatment for patients which follows the lead of various systems inside the body. To produce a daily treatment plan, doctors must observe these nine key systems using a method known as observation-intervention-impression. IC, although comprising of these nine key systems, is not limited to them, and there are other additional factors / systems that an ICU might consider before concluding on a treatment plan: psychological health, secondary infections, pressure points, physiotherapy, and mobilization.
The nine key systems spoken above, if to be read in alphabetical order, are as follows:
Critical Care Medicines is a specific offering of a dedicated department in a hospital called the ICU. In certain hospitals, the specialities / subspecialties of medicine might serve as the parameter to decide the nature of ICU, and, in such cases, there would be multiple ICUs catering to each domain of medicine. Some examples of medicine-driven ICUs or units that provide intensive care are:
In addition to these, there might be more specialisations which depend on the services / departments available in the hospital.
The Department of Critical Care Medicine at Aster Hospitals includes a team of licensed professionals with certified, super-speciality degrees in Critical Care who deliver optimal and compassionate care to all critically ill patients, as well as prescribe intensive medicine.
Patients requiring Critical Care may require support for sepsis and septic shock, hemodynamic instability, airway compromise or respiratory distress (such as ventilator support), acute kidney injury, potentially lethal cardiac arrhythmias, or the cumulative effects of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). They may also be admitted for high dependency monitoring, such as the crucial hours after undergoing major surgery when deemed too unstable to be transferred to a less intensively monitored unit.
