How is Intensive Care Unit Different from Critical Care Unit?

While in a hospital, maybe visiting a family friend or a relative, you might’ve come across highly sanitized and restricted rooms called ICUs and CCUs and wondered what complex machines sit inside and how is one different from the other? You might also get confused between a CCU and an ICU. if you did, your questions are going to be answered if you continue reading, so read on.

Both these restricted units are well equipped rooms in which critically ill patients are taken care of.

What is an ICU?

ICU stands for Intensive Care Unit. The primary intention behind keeping a patient in this room is to provide constant care to those who have a relatively short term, but serious problems like  organ failure. The patient and his treatment needs to be constantly monitored. Patients are usually intubated for breathing and supply of food.

The staff of the is ICU required to be good at rapid decision making and administration of stat medication and treatment. In India not many hospitals have a separate post operative care unit because of which many hospitals admit the post-surgical patients in an ICU.

At Premier Hospital, we have very well-equipped ICUs, to ensure that patients receive the intensive and efficient treatment that the need and deserve.

The Structure of the ICU

The beds of the patients are placed in such angles that they can be viewed from the nurses station for constant visual monitoring. Ample space is left to allow life-saving equipments to be moved from one place to another. Visitation by family members is restricted to avoid noise, allowing the patient to rest and recover, and also to eliminate germs which could place the patient at risk of infection.

What is a CCU?

CCU stands for Coronary Care Unit, Cardiac Care Unit or Critical Care Unit. It is basically a specialized ICU which is said to be dealing with cardiac patients and is usually staffed by cardiologists. The CCU provides intensive care for the patient who has been admitted because of a heart attack, heart complications or for cardiac surgery. The staff in this unit are trained to care for and monitor patients with various types of heart conditions. While this could be one explanation, another explanation of the CCU is that it takes care of the patients who are comatosed or terminally ill, and are not going to be there for a short period of time.

At Premier Hospital, we understand that a patient recuperating from a heart ailment needs the best care along with an atmosphere that aids in their recovery. That’s the reason why our CCUs are fully equipped with everything that is necessary for a smooth recovery.

The Structure of the CCU

The structures of both the ICU and CCU are quite similar. Both are designed to limit stress for the patient and provide easy visual access to the staff of the CCU. Visitation in the CCU is restricted to just the family members that too for a very brief period of time in a day. There are devices monitoring the patient that elicit rhythmic beeps and buzzes indicating of normal functioning or differences in the body. Some patients might be on ventilators.

Equipment in ICU and CCU

The ICU and CCU mostly have similar machines and equipments, some of the most important machines and equipment are listed below,

• Defibrillator
• ECG Machine
• Multiparameter monitor
• Pulse Oximeter
• Transport Ventilator(pneumatic)
• Ventilator (Basic)
• Advanced Ventilator
• Reverse Osmosis plant (Portable)
• Intra Aortic Balloon Pump
• Et Co2  Monitor
• Dialysis Machine
• Oxygen flow meter

About The Hospital:

Since the inception of Premier Hospital in 1991 till today, we have grown to unprecedented levels, due to our excellence in medical sciences and healthcare. Premier Hospital is the creation of Dr Mahesh Marda and when it was first established, was only a small, 30-bed hospital facility. Back then, we provided only secondary care to patients, but that certainly has changed in the present landscape.