An Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a specialized hospital department designed to provide comprehensive and continuous care to patients with life-threatening or critically unstable conditions that require close monitoring and support of vital organ functions.
Key Features: 24/7 Monitoring: Continuous surveillance of vital signs (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation).
Advanced Equipment: Mechanical ventilators, infusion pumps, cardiac monitors, and dialysis machines.
Specialized Staff: Intensivists (critical care physicians), ICU nurses, respiratory therapists, and other trained personnel.
Organ Support: Support for one or more failing organ systems (e.g., respiratory failure, sepsis, post-surgical complications).
Typical ICU Patients: Patients with severe infections (e.g., sepsis)
Those needing mechanical ventilation
Post-operative patients after major surgeries
Victims of trauma or neurological emergencies (e.g., brain injury, stroke)
Patients with cardiac arrest or shock