Critical Care

Critical care has emerged as a very important subspecialty, with people living longer and new illnesses emerging. These illnesses are more complex and difficult to treat, and hence the need for dedicated centers with advanced facilities and personnel who excel in this field. The Critical Care Department is a centre of excellence.

About the Department
Our 28 - bedded fully functional & modern Intensive Care Units are at par with the best in the world. Quality drives us at Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital.

The planning, infrastructure and equipment include -

• Advance air filtration system.
• Positive & Negative pressure isolation rooms.
• Advanced ventilators for optimal patient ventilator synchrony.
• Latest machines such as IABP / Advanced Modular Monitors & Workstations. Monitors with up to 48 hrs memory.
• Fully computerized drug indenting system.
• Fully computerized laboratory & radiological systems, so that investigations & imaging can be viewed online in ICU.
• Eight ICU beds with dialysis facility

All hospital rooms are linked to central monitors in ICU, so that any patient in the hospital can be monitored from the nurse station and also the critical care unit.

ICU is located on the second floor and third floors. They are adjacent to the Operation Theatres. There are 28 beds here, spread over 12,000 square feet. The facility has spacious cubicles which can be converted into private areas by drawing curtains. Each bed has a high end, upgradable electronic patient monitoring system. There are also high end life support ventilators available for each bed. All monitors are linked to the central monitor and also there is a nurse call arrangement at every bed.

Each ICU has a clean air concept with two stage air filtration to provide clean air. There are separate rooms to cater for the immuno-compromised patients. The full time Intensivist with a multidisciplinary team of highly experienced health professionals, monitors and directs the care of critically ill patients round the clock, and works in collaboration with other health care professionals necessary for the care of patients critical care units.

• What is critical care medicine?

  Critical care medicine is the healthcare specialty that cares for patients with acute, life-threatening illness or injury. This care is delivered in highly specialized intensive care units (ICUs) and trauma centers.
  
  Multidisciplinary teams of highly experienced physicians, nurses, respiratory care technicians, pharmacists, dieticians and other allied health professionals provide comprehensive care for these critically ill patients. This team uses their unique expertise, ability to interpret important therapeutic information, access to highly sophisticated equipment, and the services of support personnel to provide care that leads to the best outcome for the patient.
  
  Patients are rarely admitted directly to the critical care unit. They are usually admitted from the emergency room, operating room or hospital rooms where they are first given care and stabilized. The continuum of critical care begins at the moment of illness or injury and continues throughout the patient's hospitalization, treatment and subsequent recovery

• What kinds of illness and injury usually require critical care?

  Typical examples of critical illness include heart attack, pneumonia, poisoning, complex or prolonged surgery, surgical complications, premature birth, and stroke. Critical care also includes trauma care - care of the severely injured – from any cause.

• What is the difference between critical care and emergency medicine?

  Critical care refers exclusively to the treatment of patients who suffer from life-threatening conditions. Emergency room physicians and nurses treat patients who suffer from relatively minor emergencies (sprained ankles, broken arms) to those with major problems including heart attack, knife or gunshot wounds or drug overdoses. In the Emergency Department, physicians and nurses stabilize patients and transfer them to the ICU for further treatment. The long-term management of critically ill and injured patients is provided by critical care professionals in the ICU.

• What is an intensivist?

  An intensivist is a specialist physician with additional sub-specialty (fellowship) training, or equivalent qualifications, in critical care medicine. An intensivist directs the care of critically ill patients and works in collaboration with other health care professionals necessary for the care of patients in critical care units.

• What is mechanical ventilation?

  Mechanical ventilation is the method of using machines to help patients breathe when they are unable to breathe sufficiently on their own. Most often, mechanical ventilation is used for a few days or weeks to help a patient breathe during a serious illness. This type of breathing support is usually done in an intensive care unit.