Critical care is the specialist care given to patients with acute (sudden), potentially reversible, life-threatening diseases or injury such as a major accident, a severe infection, coma or following a major operation. The Department of Critical Care Medicine (DCCM) provides intensive care and high dependency care for adult patients (>15 yrs) with all conditions except heart, lung and blood vessel surgery which is provided by the Cardiothoracic and Vascular ICU, and burns which is provided by Middlemore ICU. Specialist areas include intensive care for liver, kidney and pancreas transplantation and neurologic (brain) conditions.
Critical Care is divided into two areas; the Intensive Care where the sickest patients are cared for, and the High Dependency where patients who are not well enough to return to general wards are treated.
Critical Care is staffed by a team of highly experienced and professional doctors and nurses who are supported by other healthcare professionals. Medical care is provided by specialist doctors trained to look after very ill patients (intensivists), and doctors training to be specialists in intensive care, anaesthesia, emergency medicine, internal medicine and surgery. Many of the nurses in critical care are also specialised with post-graduate training and qualifications in intensive care. Patients requiring intensive care treatment have a nurse allocated to look after them individually. High dependency patients may be cared for by a nurse who is also looking after other patients. Critical Care also has physiotherapists, dietitians, pharmacists, radiographers, biomedical technicians and other healthcare professionals to help care for these very ill patients.