Medicine

Critical Care medicine is a branch of medicine, which deals with the diagnosis and management of life-threatening conditions. Such patients are managed in a specialized area called the Intensive Care Unit. These critically ill patients may also have dysfunction or failure of one or more organ systems, including the cardiac, pulmonary, neurologic, liver, kidney or gastrointestinal systems. In the ICU, various procedures like endotracheal intubation, central venous catheterization, arterial cannulation, bronchoscopy, lumbar puncture, chest tube thoracostomy and percutaneous tracheostomy are performed by the intensivist. Many of these sick patients require life support systems like invasive and non – invasive ventilation, Hemodialysis and CRRT, which are available at the bedside. Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy, Ultrasonography and 2D Echocardiography are used routinely for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

What is critical care?

Critical care is medical care for people who have life-threatening injuries and illnesses. It usually takes place in an intensive care unit (ICU). A team of specially-trained health care providers gives you 24-hour care. This includes using machines to constantly monitor your vital signs. It also usually involves giving you specialized treatments.

Who needs critical care?

You need critical care if you have a life-threatening illness or injury, such as

Our Banner Children’s specialists treat a variety of specific pediatric conditions, including:

• Severe burns
• COVID-19
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Kidney failure
• People recovering from certain major surgeries
• Respiratory failure
• Sepsis
• Severe bleeding
• Serious infections
• Serious injuries, such as from car crashes, falls, and shootings
• Shock
• Stroke

What happens in a critical care unit?

In a critical care unit, health care providers use lots of different equipment, including

• Catheters, flexible tubes used to get fluids into the body or to drain fluids from the body
• Dialysis machines ("artificial kidneys") for people with kidney failure
• Feeding tubes, which give you nutritional support
• Intravenous (IV) tubes to give you fluids and medicines
• Machines which check your vital signs and display them on monitors
• Oxygen therapy to give you extra oxygen to breathe in
• Tracheostomy tubes, which are breathing tubes. The tube is placed in a surgically made hole that goes through the front of the neck and into the windpipe.
• Ventilators (breathing machines), which move air in and out of your lungs. This is for people who have respiratory failure.