Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
What does a cardiac ICU nurse do?
Cardiac ICU Nurses work in Intensive Healthcare Units and are responsible for providing medical care to patients who have undergone cardiac surgery, valve replacements or heart transplants. Some of their areas of expertise are airway management, pain management, hemodynamics, and heart rhythm interpretation.
Is being in the ICU serious?
If your loved one has been admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital, this means that his or her illness is serious enough to require the most careful degree of medical monitoring and the highest level of medical care.
How long are you sedated in ICU?
Some patients need to be sedated for hours, days or even weeks. Usually when the problem for which they were admitted to the ICU has gone away, the anesthetic will be turned off so they can be assessed. If they are doing well then the breathing tube can be taken out
Cardiovascular intensive care unit (CICU) is a hospital ward that specializes in the care of patients who have experienced ischemic heart disease as well as other severe heart disease. Furthermore, the patients in the CICU often have various complications such as respiratory failure and renal failure.
What is the CICU?
The CICU is a distinct unit, staffed by a distinct team of providers, where babies, children, teens and young adults who are critically ill with heart problems are cared for by a medical team with special training and expertise.
Our CICU puts us in an elite class of children’s hospitals in the nation. Ours is the only pediatric CICU in the Pacific Northwest – the next closest is more than 700 miles away.
Why does Seattle Children’s have a dedicated CICU?
Heart issues are very complex and can be life-threatening. Yet, in most hospitals, pediatric heart patients are cared for on a general pediatric intensive care unit by doctors and nurses who treat a wide variety of medical issues.
Having a dedicated team with advanced training and experience in caring for children with heart problems leads to better care and better outcomes – and a better experience for patients and their families.
Even the design of the CICU allows our team to care for patients more carefully. Our caregivers’ work stations are within steps of our patient rooms. This offers children and families the comfort of being able to see and contact their doctors and nurses when needed. Small, glass-enclosed conference rooms within sight of patient rooms let the care team watch each child even while meeting.
What is it like on the CICU?
Being in the hospital with your child can be difficult. The 16 single-patient rooms on our CICU are designed to ease a family’s stay. Amenities include:
- Room for two parents or caregivers to stay overnight
- Private bathrooms for the patient
- Two large private bathrooms with showers for parents on the unit
- Refrigerators in the caregiver lounges for personal food
- Small conference tables for medical consultations
- A 42-inch flat-screen TV featuring Get Well Town, an interactive media system tailored to each patient, and a different TV for separate viewing by parents
- Quiet rooms on each floor that provide a calm space away from the bedside
- Caregiver lounges where patients and families can relax and prepare simple meals
