Intensive Care Unit

An intensive care unit (commonly referred to the ICU) is a department or section of a hospital that provides critical care medicine.

Intensive care units cater to patients with the most severe and life-threatening illnesses and injuries. Such illnesses and injuries require constant, close monitoring and support from specialized equipment and medication in order to maintain normal bodily functions. They are staffed by critical care physicians, trauma surgeons, and ICU nurses who specialize in caring for seriously or critically ill patients. Common conditions that are treated within ICU's include those such as trauma, multiple organ failure and sepsis.

Patients are normally transferred from the ER, post-surgery, or other departments from the hospital.

Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and St. Ambrose Hospital both have an ICU.

Specialties
Hospitals with specialized services have specialty ICUs that cater to those patients being treated by those specialized services.
 * Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
 * Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
 * Coronary Care Unit (CCU)
 * Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU)
 * Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (NeuroICU)

Notes and Trivia

 * The ICU at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital does not require its staff to wear specialized gowns.