What is an intensive care unit or ICU ?
It is a special area of the hospital where the focus is on intense observation and treatment with increased staff and resources . This helps respond immediately to emergency conditions . The trained nurses and doctors with the help of a multidisciplinary team ensure that the critical patient rapidly recovers and goes home to their family.
Who needs to be treated in an ICU ?
Any patient who needs close monitoring and treatment needs to be admitted to an intensive care unit. Anyone with breathing difficulty requiring the use of special machines called ventilators , patients with low blood pressure needing medicine to treat it, infections causing septic shock as well as patients who need close observation after certain surgeries like heart bypass, trauma surgery and brain surgery are some examples.
Can I visit my family member or friend who is in the ICU ?
It is very important for family to be a part of the healing process . The presence of loved ones will reassure the patient . It is also very important that privacy is maintained , noise and infection are controlled and patients get time to rest and sleep. For these reasons visiting hours are specified outside the ICU .
The Visiting Hours are as follows: 10 AM – 11 AM 5PM – 7 PM
Only two visitors are allowed to meet the patient per shift.
Why are there so many wires on the patient ?
The ICU is a place to monitor patients acutely. Fortunately modern technology has advanced a lot and we can get intricate details of a patient’s vital parameters like heart rate , breathing rate, oxygen level and blood pressure for example. This is done using multiple devices and these are the numerous wires that are seen which are constantly monitoring the patient.
Who is an Intensivist / Critical Care specialist ?
Is a trained super specialist in the critical care medicine after completion of Anaesthesiology/ Medicine/Pulmonology and is responsible for the patients in the Intensive Care Unit. Major decisions are taken by Intensivist after discussion with the primary and referral consultants. Daily family meetings are done to brief the patient attendants about the health condition of the patient and the plan of care. The Intensivist holds a senior responsibility of the Unit and the other healthcare professionals work in coordination with him.
1) What is a Ventilator.
It is an artificial breathing machine helps the patient in breathing. It improves oxygen in the blood. It provides high concentration of oxygen and also has the internal settings in such a way that patient is more comfortable in breathing. Once the lung starts improving, the ventilator support will be decreased slowly and finally the support will be withdrawn. At every step the Intensivist will carefully analyse the situation and decrease the ventilator support.
2) What is a pressure sore.
The ulceration developed over the dependent parts of the body in the hospitalised patients, the pressure sore is more common in ICU patients due to immobility, same posture, severe infections, multiple comorbidities. Our pressure ulcer rate is very low due to continuous changing of position every 2nd hourly and early mobilisation.
3) What is ICU acquired infections
HAI or Nosocomial infection or ICU acquired infections is the terminology used for hospital acquired infections. If a patient admitted to hospital/ICU more than 48hours with various reasons due to poor infection control measures the patient can get a new infection from other patient transmitted by the hospital staff (doctor or other staff). HAI or Nosocomial infection or ICU acquired infections burdens the patient by increase in mortality, morbidity and cost. We follow very strict infection control measures and are frequently audited.