A short article to tell you what is in the ICU

A short article to tell you what is in the ICU

Intensive care unit, some are called intensive care medicine department. According to different treatment objects, it is basically divided into two categories: pediatric ICU and adult ICU, and adults can be divided into cardiovascular ICU, respiratory ICU and so on. ICU admissions are all critically ill patients who are life-threatening and often have multiple organ system diseases.

For patients, the ICU is mysterious, scary, and expensive. But is this really the case? For example, the condition of a patient in the ward suddenly worsens, or a good citizen has an emergency at home and takes the 120 ambulance to the emergency department of the hospital. After some examinations and treatments, the doctor said that the patient was in critical condition and needed to be admitted to the ICU for treatment.
At this time, the patient’s family often thinks:
1. Doctor, don’t scare us.
2. It’s over. I heard from my colleagues that the cost of staying in the ICU is tens of thousands a day, and we can’t afford it.
3. I heard from my friends that once you enter the ICU, you are dead, and the money is wasted.
4. I heard from relatives that entering the ICU is like a lamb at the mercy of others, and the hospital can’t let you out unless it squeezes you dry.
And that’s not the case.

First, why are patients admitted to the ICU? Because of a serious illness! How heavy is that? Listen well, it is so severe that the vital signs are not stable. To put it simply, the normal blood pressure and pulse can not be maintained, or will not be maintained, and life will end if there is no intervention. At this time, in the general ward, one doctor, two nurses, and 30 patients, this configuration is obviously not enough to save lives. At this time, it is very wise and the only choice to enter the ICU for treatment.

Secondly, what is the difference between the ICU and the general ward?
Compared with ordinary wards, ICU has more people and more medical staff. Under normal circumstances, a doctor in a general ward is responsible for 10 patients, and a nurse is responsible for 15 patients. In the ICU, a doctor is in charge of at most 3 patients, a nurse is generally in charge of 2 patients, and sometimes even a nurse is in charge of only one patient. It can be seen that in the ICU, the attention received by patients is unmatched by ordinary wards. In addition to the large number of staff, the way of working is also different. In the general ward, the doctor got up early to see the patient once, and basically stopped showing up for a day. Nurses basically appear when needles are inserted and pulled out. If there is no special event, the day will pass. In the ICU, under stable conditions, the doctor will visit the bedside every 30 minutes to 1 hour. The nurse is always sitting at the end of the patient’s bed. Constantly observe the changes in the patient’s condition. If there is a little trouble, the doctor will be called to deal with it.

If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools. In addition to relatively abundant and high-quality human resources, ICU also has extremely rich high-end medical equipment resources.
The following is a brief introduction to the preparation of some conventional instruments in the ICU.
1. Vital signs monitor. This thing is very common. It can monitor multiple life indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, respiration rate, and central venous pressure at the same time. It is an important tool to observe whether life is stable. There are many 120 patients sent to the emergency room. The first thing is to monitor the vital signs, judge the severity of the condition according to the indicators, and decide the next step.
2. The ventilator is an important weapon to help patients pass through the life barrier. When a patient suffers from respiratory dysfunction, such as severe pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, or respiratory depression caused by drugs, the maintenance of the ventilator is necessary to gain time for follow-up treatment and achieve the continuation of life.
3. The bedside CRRT machine, what does it do? Simply put, it works instead of the kidneys. The most common clinical treatment is acute renal failure, hyperkalemia and other emergency situations.
4. Hemoperfusion machine, bedside ultrasound, Picco monitor, etc. all have corresponding applications, so I won’t introduce them one by one.

In short, ICU has relatively sufficient manpower, experienced doctors (mainly emergency ICU), and advanced equipment. It is a place that gathers various high-quality medical resources. When a patient is seriously ill, all kinds of high-quality medical resources are needed to save lives.