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