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Icus In Nursing

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Intensive Care Units (ICUs) have undergone an impressive improvement and expansion over the last 50 years. In 1958, approximately 25% of community hospitals with more than 300 beds reported having an ICU. By 1997, more than 5,000 ICUs were operational in hospitals across the United States (7). Evidence has shown that the presence of specialized critical care teams which include an intensivist physician reduce patient mortality and morbidity (8, 9). The medical literature strongly supports the premise that patient outcomes in the ICU are improved when care is directed by a dedicated intensivist.15 High quality care to critically ill patients requires the adoption of a 24/7 intensivist model of critical care and the appropriate training, credentialing, …show more content…
However, most patients requiring intensive care suffered from hemorrhagic or septic shock, acute renal failure, or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Because general surgeons had the expertise to perform fluid resuscitation, blood transfusion, central venous and pulmonary artery catheter insertion, tracheostomy, chest tube insertion, and abscess drainage, they became more involved, clinically and administratively, in the intensive care of both surgical and nonsurgical patients in the ICU. Anesthetists became more involved with the respiratory care of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and the pharmacological management of shock …show more content…
This wealth of experience allows the surgeon to assimilate radiologic and laboratory studies, physical exam findings and a complicated patient course. Rapid identification and appropriate treatment of critically ill patients improves the outcomes of many conditions, including sepsis, acute myocardial infarction and hemorrhagic shock [2–5]. This requires a clinician who is comfortable reacting quickly, and often with limited data. Surgeons develop this skill early in their careers. Modern ICU care involves invasive procedures in many body regions; surgeons develop many of these basic techniques (thoracentesis, diagnostic peritoneal lavage, tube thoracostomy, percutaneous tracheostomy, decompressive laparotomy, and compartment release of the lower extremity.
The surgeon who has operated on the patient has unique knowledge of the patient’s anatomy and physiology; the physician who has done the best to restore functional anatomy and physiology is best poised to guide the patient’s postoperative treatment. Furthermore, the surgeon is qualified to orchestrate surgical ICU care with operating-room management, and correlate perioperative course with later multiple organ system

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