Description

Intensive Care

An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as
an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU)
or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or
health care facility that provides intensive care medicine.

Intensive care units cater to patients with severe
or life-threatening illnesses and injuries, which require constant care,
close supervision from life support equipment and medication in order to
ensure normal bodily functions. They are staffed by highly trained physicians, nurses and respiratory
therapists who specialize in caring for critically ill patients. ICUs are
also distinguished from general hospital wards by a higher staff-to-patient
ratio and access to advanced medical resources and equipment that is not
routinely available elsewhere. Common conditions that are treated within ICUs
include acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, and other
life-threatening conditions.

Patients may be referred directly from an emergency
department or from a ward if they rapidly deteriorate, or immediately
after surgery if the surgery is very invasive and the patient is at high risk
of complications