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Intensive Care

Critical care, also known as intensive care, is needed if someone is seriously ill with life-threatening conditions and requires intensive treatment and close monitoring. This is carried out in a ward called the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). These wards within the hospital are staffed with a multi-disciplinary healthcare team equipped and designed to closely monitor and treat patients with life-threatening conditions. Patients may need specialist treatment because one or more of their body systems, such as their heart, lung, or kidneys, are not working properly.

Because our patients are often very unwell, they will have much greater care needs than those patients being cared for on more general wards within the hospital. For this reason, each nurse will care for one patient only at a time and patients will be reviewed by different teams regularly.

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Article: ICU physiotherapists

Physiotherapists have two main roles in the ICU. They can aid breathing by clearing mucus from the chest and encourage deeper and stronger breathing and coughing. They also work to prevent muscle loss and improve their movement, including by helping patients to stand and walk.

Article: ICU Psychologist

ICU Psychologists Being unwell and in hospital needing critical care can be a stressful experience, whether you are with us for days, weeks or months. The environment can be very scary and the treatments that we need to offer to give people the best chance of getting better can be very unpleasant. When you are away from your family and friends, and are not in the comfort of your own home, it can make being unwell feel even worse. People often feel a range of unpleasant emotions....

Article: ICU sedation

What is sedation? Sedatives are the drugs we give patients to keep them sleepy and comfortable whilst in Intensive Care. They are usually given into a line or drip, directly into the patient's bloodstream.

Article: ICU Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs)

What does a Speech and Language Therapist do in intensive care? Speech and Language Therapists are trained in assessing and treating swallowing and communication problems arising from a range of different causes In intensive care, Speech and Language Therapists are also trained to help patients with a tracheostomy (breathing tube in the neck) breathe through the upper airway (nose, mouth, throat) again. Why might a patient need to see a Speech and Language Therapist during and after...

Web Link: ICU Steps - information for children and families (visiting ICU)

Having a relative in ICU is hard for the whole family, including children. This weblink to ICU Steps has three resources to help. 'Visiting the Intensive Care Unit' is an activity book for children who are visiting a relative in an intensive care unit (ICU).

Article: ICU Technicians

ICU Technicians are responsible for the management of the medical devices used on the ICU, this includes monitors, pumps, ventilators, kidney machines, heart monitors, ultra-sound machines.

Article: ICU ward rounds

Patients in Intensive Care are reviewed many times a day by the various different staff involved in their care, and continuously by the nurse at the bedside. Medical assessment The medical staff will usually do a full patient assessment at the start of every shift (both day and night shift). This will include things like the patient's vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, etc), their blood results, X rays, medications and medical notes, among others. ...

Article: Infection control

Why is infection control so important in Intensive Care? Patients who are in Intensive Care are more at risk of getting infections. This is mainly due to patients being so unwell, and because some of the equipment we use can increase the risk of infection.The breathing (or endotracheal) tube, for example, provides essential support, but can increase the risk of lung infection. The lines and drips we use to monitor the patient or give fluids and medications can also increase the...

Article: Infection Control on ICU

Infection control Patients in Intensive Care are more at risk of getting infections. This is mainly due to patients being so unwell but also due to some of the procedures necessary when critically ill. The breathing (or endotracheal) tube, for example, provides essential breathing support, but can increase the risk of chest infections. The IV tubes and drips we use to monitor the patient or give fluids and medications can also increase the risk of infections in the blood. To help reduce...

Article: Infusion pumps

Infusion pumps come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but they all do the same thing; they allow us to accurately control the amount of fluids, medication or liquid food we give to the patient. The nurse will normally check each infusion pump every hour to make sure that the correct amount of fluids, medication or liquid food has been given. Pumps have in-built alarms, which let us know if there is a problem e.g. if there is a kink in the tubing or if an infusion is coming to an end.

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You have 137 results.