What is Critical Care?
Critical care is the provision of specialised, continuous, multidisciplinary care for patients in a life-threatening, but treatable, condition, who require some or all of the following:
• constant attention from specialist nursing and therapy staff
• continuous, uninterrupted physiological monitoring, supervised by staff who are able to interpret and immediately act on the information.
• continuous clinical direction and care from a specialist consultant-led medical team, who are trained and able to provide appropriate cover
• artificial organ support
• advanced therapies which are only safe to administer in the critical care environment
As a result, critical care requires a very intensive input of resources for a small number of patients.