Intensive Care Unit - Specialities

Specialities

Hospitals may have ICU's that cater to a specific medical speciality or patient, such as those listed below:

• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
• Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
• Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
• Coronary Care Unit (CCU) - Also known as Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU)
• Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) - Also known as the Post-Operative Recovery Unit, or Recovery Room, the PACU provides immediate post-op observation and stabilisation of patients following surgical operations and anesthesia. Patients are usually held in such facilities for a limited amount of time, and must meet a set physiological criteria before transfer back to a ward with a qualified nurse escort takes place. Due to high patient flow in Recovery Units, and owing to the bed management cycle, if a patient breaches a time frame and is too unstable to be transferred back to a ward, they are normally transferred to a High Dependency Unit (HDU) or Post-Operative Critical Care Unit (POCCU) for closer observation.
• High Dependency Unit (HDU) - Many hospitals have a transitional High Dependency Unit (HDU) for patients who require close observation, treatment and nursing care that cannot be provided on a general ward, but whose care is not at a critical enough level to warrant an ICU bed. These units are also called step-down, progressive and intensive recovery units and are utilised until a patient's conditions stabilises enough to qualify them for discharge to a general ward.