The Importance of Critical Care Medicine

Posted by Rebeccacraig on December 9th, 2020

An emergency physician focuses on the immediate decision making and action necessary to prevent death or any further disability. The practice of critical care medicine requires an understanding of the complex physiologic principles at the foundation of this practice and mastery of an ever-increasing body of basic and clinical science studies. Critical care Medicine, parented by physician anesthesiologists, is a recognised subspecialty of anesthesiology with the formal certification of special qualifications.

The importance of this speciality training is to committed to ensuring that patients have access to and receive this needed critical care medicine services provided by appropriately trained and skilled practitioner. Specially trained critical care physicians offer a scope and intensity of services significantly different from, but complementary to, those provided by operating surgeon or the primary care provider. The critically ill or injured patient requires a broad range of specialised services and thus the expertise of a critical care specialist. 

A team of specially-trained healthcare provider gives you 24-hour care. This includes using machines to constantly monitor your vital signs. It also usually involves giving you specialised treatment. You need critical care if you have a life-threatening illness or injury like heart attack, heart failure, covid-19, severe burns, Pulmonary Fibrosis, serious bleeding, serious infection, serious injuries like our crushes, falls, and more. In a critical care unit, the healthcare provider uses a lot of different pieces of equipment like machines which check the vital sign and display them on monitor, oxygen therapy to give you the extra oxygen to breathe in, tracheostomy tubes, ventilators and many more.

It is a life saving and dynamic branch with the responsibility of managing the sickest of patients in the hospital. An intensivist can provide advanced organ support during critical illness and coordinates with other specialists for the care of critical care patient. Impact on daily functioning and quality of life can be devastating. Additionally, the impact of critical illness on relatives and informal caregivers can be long-lasting and profound, increasing their own risk of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and financial hardship. Also, the majority of survivor suffers significant morbidities that may be severe and persist for a prolonged period after hospital discharge.

Critical can medicine has become a vibrant medical speciality an internal part of our healthcare system. Dedicated critical care physicians and the multi-disciplinary teams they lead have improved outcomes and resource utilisation.