Ashwini Hospital - ISO Certified Speciality Hospital For Advanced Medical & Critical Care.

At present the Intensive Care Unit has 12 beds (poised for an expansion shortly) with central gas pipe line and central compressed air. The I.C.U. is equipped with advanced multi-Parameter monitors, defibrillators, ventilators, nebulisers, infusion and syringe pumps and ARrT+ dialysers. There is round the clock Physician cover with Anesthesiologists and Pulmonologists and trained paramedics. This unit is directly supervised by the Chief of Medicine, Dr Maya Gantayet. The profile of cases successfully treated includes Myasthenia Gravis, G.B.Syndrome, complicated Malaria, O.P.Poisoning, snake bites, status epilepticus, C.O.P.D., septicemia and complicated pneumonia.

All C.V.A. cases spend the acute phase of the illness here till they are stable and then transferred to the Stroke Unit. Patients with significant head injuries, poly-trauma, and crush syndrome are also treated here.

What is Intensive-care unit ?

An intensive care unit (ICU), critical care unit (CCU), intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) is a specialized department used in many countries' hospitals that provides intensive care medicine. Many hospitals also have designated intensive care areas for certain specialities of medicine, as dictated by the needs and available resources of each hospital. The naming is not rigidly standardized.

Can an emergency medicine resident become board certified in critical care medicine?

Currently there is no ABEM examination for emergency medicine physicians in critical care. At this time, there are a number of factors contributing to the lack of a board certification pathway. One hurdle is the small number of trained and practicing critical care physicians with an emergency medicine background. It is fiscally impractical to develop and administer a board examination for a handful of physicians. Many of us believe that as more emergency medicine physicians become formally trained in critical care though, that ultimately this situation will change.

How long is a critical care fellowship?

Some programs are designed to provide a one year experience; other fellowships are two years in length. The advantages of a two-year fellowship are that it:
1) allows more training and diversity in your education,
2) puts you on an equal standing with other intensivists, and
3) allows you to sit for the European Diploma. The drawback of course is the need for an extra year of training. Because no standard exists for emergency medicine physicians seeking critical care training, there is no "right" answer. At the Multidisciplinary Critical Care Training Program in Pittsburgh, we encourage all emergency medicine critical care fellows to complete two years of training.

Who does procedures/emergency procedures if they are needed?

All hospitals have processes in place to deal with common emergency procedures. These include dedicated in-house personnel (physician assistants, critical care nurse practitioners, house physicians, hospitalists, anesthesiology personnel, and emergency department physicians) or specialty physicians on call from home (cardiologist for pacemaker, etc.). These processes remain in place, except that the call for the procedure would likely be initiated by the eICU intensivist, after discussion with the attending physician. If surgical evaluation is required, the eICU intensivist contacts the surgeon requested by the attending physician. eICU intensivists coordinate these activities, maintaining the nurse at the bedside.

What about patient privacy?

Patient information is secure and confidential. The technology provides the highest level of electronic data security and meets the latest security and privacy recommendations of the federal government (HIPAA). While there is a camera, speaker and microphone in each room, this communication system is only activated by request from the bedside nurse or during prescribed "virtual rounds.” It is readily apparent when the camera is activated (it moves from pointing at the wall to pointing at the patient's bed) and an audio signal is used to alert the nurse who may be in the patient's room. There is no capability for recording video or audio and patient privacy is respected when virtual rounds are required.

As a bedside nurse, who do I call first if I have a problem?

Beside nurses should call the eICU and the eICU physician will call the attending of record or the appropriate consultant to discuss any issues. This effectively gives the bedside nurse “one stop shopping” and removes the confusion of who to call, the fear of calling, or the interrogation that can follow. If house staff is covering the patient and they are assigned in the unit, nurses should call them first. If they are not in the unit and the situation is emergent, nurses should call the eICU first and then try to reach the house staff.