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Intensive care refers to the specialised treatment given to patients who are acutely unwell and require critical medical care.
An intensive care unit (ICU) provides the critical care and life support for acutely ill and injured patients.
Unless you are an emergency admission, you will need a referral from your doctor or specialist to be admitted to ICU.
Patients may have a planned admission following surgery, an unexpected admission after an accident or be admitted because of a sudden and critical deterioration to their health.
ICU teams are multi-disciplinary, made up of highly skilled intensive care nurses, doctors and specialists trained in providing critical care for patients with a variety of medical, surgical and trauma conditions.
Some hospital ICUs specialise in providing care for particular health conditions or injuries including:
ICU is one of the most critically functioning operational environments in a hospital.
Every ICU in a hospital has a different environment that will reflect the specialist medical and surgical procedures they perform.
Most ICUs are fairly large sterile areas with a high concentration of specialised, technical and monitoring equipment needed to care for critically ill patients.
The ICU environment can be confronting for some patients and visitors who may find the activity, sounds, machines, tubes and monitors intimidating.
When you visit someone you care about in ICU it can be an uncomfortable experience – you may feel helpless, overwhelmed, frustrated and sad. Your feelings and apprehension are understood by the staff that provide support for the people you care about.
Typically ICU also has a higher ratio of doctors and nurses to patients.