Intensive Care

A patient in intensive care is there due to life-threatening illnesses or injuries, including complications from surgery, accidents, serious infections or severe breathing issues.

Intensive care units are staffed by teams of specially trained clinicians and staff members. Depending on the condition being treated, an ICU staff may use a variety of medical equipment, including monitors, intravenous (IV) tubes, catheters, and breathing machines, to keep intensive care patients stable during treatment. 

When oxygen is not passing from the lungs into the blood, respiratory failure occurs. It can also occur when the lungs aren’t removing carbon dioxide from the blood, leaving a buildup that can damage the body’s organs. Unfortunately, it is possible for both of these problems – a low oxygen level and a high carbon dioxide level – to happen at the same time.

Respiratory failure is commonly accompanied by complications that include pulmonary embolism, fibrosis, pneumonia, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, renal failure, and infection.

In order to treat respiratory failure and its complications, catheters, tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation may be considered. The main goal of treating respiratory failure is to get oxygen to the lungs and organs and remove carbon dioxide from the body. Treating the underlying causes is also extremely important to support recovery.

In response to an infection, the body releases chemicals into the bloodstream. Sepsis occurs when the body’s response to these chemicals is out of balance, triggering inflammation that damages multiple organ systems. If sepsis progresses to septic shock, blood pressure can drop dramatically, which can lead to organ failure.  

If the condition is discovered quickly enough, sepsis treatment can be effective. Medications such as antibiotics can be prescribed and administered through an IV, to distribute them into the bloodstream quickly. If the infection worsens, medications such as vasopressors and corticosteroids may be prescribed.

Heart failure occurs when the heart stops pumping properly, and blood does not flow to where it needs to go. Fluid builds up in the lungs, causing shortness of breath, and in the legs, causing swelling.  Heart failure can be caused by conditions such as heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, arrhythmia, and kidney disease. Complications include kidney and liver damage. Depending on the stage of heart failure, it may be treated with lifestyle changes, medications, or ventricular assist devices. 

A ventilator, or respirator, is a machine that helps patients breathe. Connection to a ventilator occurs through either a mask or through a tracheostomy, a surgical procedure to open a hole in the neck. The process of breathing through mechanical ventilation is not the same as how we normally breathe. A ventilator pushes air into a patient’s lungs. When the lungs are full, the vent stops pushing and air leaves the lungs on its own.

Not only does the ventilator deliver air into the lungs, but it also provides something called positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) to aid the lungs in staying open so that the air sacs don’t collapse.

The closely monitored process of removing the patient from the ventilator for periods of time is known as “liberation.”

Patients that need medication quickly or who are unable to take oral medications may need medication administered directly into their veins via an intravenous line. When a patient needs to have multiple medications administered in a short period of time, clinicians may use what is called an IV catheter, which a tube that can be inserted into the vein, reducing the number of times the clinician needs to puncture the vein. Central venous catheters, or central lines, may be used for long-term IV drug therapy. These are inserted into a vein in a person’s neck, chest, arm, or groin until they reach the right atrium, superior vena cava, or inferior vena cava.