Critical Care

University Hospital's commitment to provide leading edge critical care support has resulted in the Division being responsible for 60 critical care beds. The critical care team sees patients in the medical / surgical intensive care units, coronary care units, post cardiac surgery units and the burn unit.

Residents are exposed to a wide variety of critical care patients and problems. The critical care units are fully equipped with state-of-the-art ventilatory support and monitoring capabilities. A director oversees each unit and a multidisciplinary team including medical intensivists, surgical intensivists, consultants, nutrition experts, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists and social workers care for all patients.

Medical residents participate in daily multidisciplinary ICU rounds with the critical care faculty. Each patient is visited at the bedside and all important aspects of pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

Residents are also involved in the very complex task of conferring with families through continuous family meetings during which issues such as "do not resuscitate" orders, prognosis, end-of-life care, and pain and suffering are addressed.

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