Critical Care Nursing | Types of Critical Care Units in Hospital

It is the branch of nursing with a focus on the ultimate care of critically sick or unstable patients. The nurses who work in critical care unit can be found working in a wide range of environments and specialties, such as medical intensive care units, surgical intensive care units, general intensive care units, trauma intensive care units, cardiothoracic intensive care units, coronary care units, and some trauma center emergency departments.  In another word, critical care nursing is a specialty within nursing that deals specifically with human responses to life-threatening problems.

Who is a Critical Care Nurse?

A critical care nurse who works in the critical care unit is a licensed professional nurse. She is fully responsible for ensuring that acutely and critically sick patients and their families receive optimal care.

A critical care nurse also sometimes referred to as an ICU nurse, is a type of nurse that provides care to patients that are in critical condition. These types of nurses may care for adults or children recovering from serious medical problems including illness and injuries.

What Types of Critical Care Units in Hospital?

There are mainly nine types of critical care units in the hospital which are explained below:

The neonatal intensive care unit cares for neonatal patients who have not left the hospital after birth.

In the pediatric intensive care unit, Pediatric patients are treated for life-threatening medical problems such as influenza, asthma, diabetic ketoacidosis, or traumatic brain injury.

Those types of patients are delivered here who may voluntarily harm themselves so they can be monitored more vigorously. Patient rooms are locked, preventing escape.

It is also known as the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) or cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU). This ICU caters to patients specifically which congenital heart defects or life-threatening acute conditions such as cardiac arrest.

In the Neurological Intensive Care Unit, patients are treated for brain tumors, aneurysms, stroke, rattlesnake bites, and post-surgical patients who have undergone different neurological surgeries and require hourly neurological exams.

These types of units are found only in hospitals certified in Trauma and have a dedicated Trauma Emergency Department equipped with a team of surgeons, nurses, respiratory therapists, and radiological staff.

It is also known as the post-operative recovery unit or recovery room. The Post-anesthesia care unit serves immediate post-op observation and stabilization of patients following surgical operations and anesthesia.

This unit is also known as step-down, progressive, and intensive recovery units and is utilized until a patient’s condition stabilizes enough to qualify them for discharge to a general ward.

It is a specialized service in larger hospitals that provide inpatient care for critically ill patients on surgical services. The care is managed here by surgeons trained in critical care as opposed to other ICUs.

More questions related to this article:

1. Define critical care nursing.
2. What do you mean by critical care nursing?
3. What is the definition of critical care?
4. What does critical care mean in the hospital?
5. What do critical care nurses do?
6. Mention some working places where critical care nurses work?
7. What are the types of critical care units in the hospital?
8. Classify critical care unit.
9. What are the different ICU units?
10. What types of patients are in ICU?
11. What types of patients are in the intensive care unit?