Critical care is a multi-professional health care in which
special care and attention are provided
for patients suffering from acute illnesses and for individuals with injuries
that can be threatening their lives. This type of health care is necessary for
patients with certain health problems like heart attack, pneumonia, poisoning,
surgical complications, strokes, and premature deliveries. Individuals with
severe injuries due to road accidents, gunshots, and burns are also put under
critical care.
Critical care is available inside an ambulance, MedEvac
helicopter, hospital emergency rooms and trauma centers, and operating rooms.
In hospitals, there are separate critical care units for those who are
undergoing life threatening illnesses. These units have a group of highly
experienced physicians, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory care technicians, and
other health professionals to provide care for the betterment of these
patients.
The patients who come to hospitals with critical situations
and injuries are not admitted directly to the critical care unit in the normal
case. They are first hospitalized and are given primary care and treatment at
trauma centers and emergency rooms. Then the patients are shifted to critical
units for long and sustained periods of treatment until he crosses the
life-threatening situation. Patients from operating rooms may also be shifted
to critical units.
Critical care is a decision making situation for the
physician about how to treat the patient and how to bring back the patient
from the dangerous condition he is in. The services need personal management
and personal assessments by the physician. The physician needs to give full
time attention to the patient. A failure in service or attention can
negatively affect the patient’s health with many complications.
There are a number of
sophisticated to simple equipments that serve the functions of critical care.
The equipments are different with different purposes. Some among the commonly
used equipments are multi-channel monitoring system, mechanical ventilators,
intra-aortic balloon pumps, blood or fluid warmers, temporary pace makers, and
disposable resuscitators.
