Services We Provide - Medicine, Acute
Care & Clinical Support
Acute
Care - Critical Care Unit
The
Critical Care Complex will incorporate both the Intensive Care Unit
(ICU) and the High Dependency Unit (HDU). The first stage, involving an
expanded purpose built Level III Intensive Care Unit was completed in
June 2008. The ICU opened with 12 beds, but has the capacity to expand
to 18 beds. The HDU, consisting of 6 beds initially and then expanding
to 10 beds, is scheduled to open at the beginning of 2009.
The
ICU
at Middlemore Hospital is a general ICU.
Intensive care is the specialised medical and nursing care given to
patients with acute, potentially reversible, life-threatening diseases.
This may include patients who have life-threatening conditions such as a
major accident, a severe infection or those recovering from a major
operation.
We
take adult and paediatric patients from the Counties Manukau area as
well as plastic surgical and spinal patients from the Auckland region,
and burn patients from around New Zealand and the Pacific. Admissions
and discharges are decided by the ICU Medical team. Clinical decisions
regarding
day to day patient care are made by the ICU team in conjunction with the
primary team looking after the patient.
We
are staffed medically, by
6
full time equivalent (FTE) Intensive Care Specialists including our
Clinical Head of Department, and
8
Registrars. Our nursing staff consists of a Nurse Manager, 6 Associate
Charge Nurse Managers, a Clinical Nurse Educator, a Workforce
Development Nurse, and 61 FTE Registered Nurses. This team provides 24
hour cover of the ICU as well as referrals and emergency calls from the
rest of the hospital. We have an excellent team of support staff who
include: a Unit Secretary, 2 Ward Clerks and 5 Health Care Assistants.
We are visited on a regular basis by other medical teams,
physiotherapists, pharmacists, dieticians and radiologists who have a
large amount of input into our patients. We are also associated with the
first Intensive Care Nurse Practitioner in New Zealand who provides an
ICU outreach service to the rest of the Hospital at Middlemore.
A patient in the ICU will usually have
one on one nursing 24 hours of the day, although some may require more
(especially an unstable burn patient) while others less. Our philosophy
is one of active patient management, whereby we aim to minimise length
of stay and improve patient care. Nursing care and medical interventions
occur continuously, not at regular intervals. In essence our concerns
are rapid diagnosis, effective treatment and organ support.
Published: 27-Apr-2009
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