In-Patient Department - Intensive Care Unit
The Intensive Care Unit is different from the normal ward in many ways.
- Only trained nursing staff are posted there.
- Very serious patients are admitted there.
- Patients are closely monitored by the staff almost three to four times every hour.
- Patients are connected to monitors which record and display the vital signs continuously.
- Ventilators may be used at times to make the patient breath artificially.
- Cleanliness and asepsis is maintained to a high degree.
A few equipment used in the GRH ICU are mentioned below
Ventilator
A ventilator as the name suggests, ventilates a patient who is unable to do so. It behaves as an artificial lung by pumping oxygen in and out of the patients lungs through a tube placed inside the patients throat. Very serious patients need ventilators. Usually a patient on a ventilator is also given medications to sleep (sedatives). This is done to prevent the patients from struggling and/or biting the tube.
Pulse Oximeter
This device records the amount of oxygen carried by the blood in the tissues. It indicates the function of the heart, lung and blood.
ECG
This machine records the electrical activities of the heart, which indicate to the doctor the state of the heart. This is a continuous monitoring which gives a clear picture to the changes occuring over a long period of time.
