The care of the critically injured or critically ill patient at Staten Island University Hospital is delivered in one of seven specialized units. The North site complex at 475 Seaview Avenue, houses the combined Respiratory-Coronary Critical Care Unit, the combined Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the Pediatric Intensive Unit, and the Cardiothoracic (open heart) Critical Care Unit. The South site complex at 375 Seguine Avenue, houses the combined Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit and the Coronary Care Unit. The combined critical care units admit more than 5,000 patients yearly.

Patients with critical illness secondary to cardiac dysfunction or respiratory dysfunction, are admitted to the Coronary Care Unit and Respiratory Care Unit, respectively. Patients with combined system diseases such as shock, severe trauma, severe infections, or failure of more than one organ system, are generally admitted to the combined Medical/Surgical Critical Care Units. The critically ill neonate is generally defined as a child less than 30 days of age and he or she is routinely admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Children are defined as non-neonates up to those 18 years of age and are admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit if they are critically ill.

Patients who have undergone cardiac surgery routinely require critical care and intensive nursing care post-operatively and are routinely admitted to the cardiothoracic critical care unit post-operatively. Critically ill burn patients are admitted to the Burn Unit and cared for by the Burn Unit physicians and nurses with critical care expertise and consultations provided by board certified intensivists.

In addition to the care rendered by the patient's attending or primary physician, the care in the Critical Care Units and special care units is delivered by extensively trained and highly specialized physicians, nurses, therapists, and technicians. Each of the critical care areas is supervised by a Physician director. Admissions to, and discharges from, critical care areas are evaluated by the acting director of each unit to insure proper utilization and proper location of each critically ill patient.

Formal multidisciplinary rounds (rounds with the physician, nurses, respiratory therapists and specialized consultants) are made daily on each patient in the critical care units. Discussing the patient's problems together insures coordinated and optimal care of the critically ill or injured patient. All units are equipped with state-of-the-art support equipment and all services are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Staten Island University Hospital is one of the few hospitals nationwide to have a critical care specialist (intensivist) on the premises 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

Formal mechanisms for keeping patient's families abreast of the patient's progress are routine in the medical-surgical care areas. When appropriate, representatives of the clergy are involved in the family/staff discussions.