What Is Critical Care Medicine?
The Society for Critical Care Medicine reports each day that more than 55,000 patients are treated in critical care units across the United States. It estimates that 160,000 lives could be saved each year if treatment was given in critical care, rather than a traditional hospital unit.
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Identification
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Critical care medicine is a specialized healthcare field that deals with the treatment of life-threatening illness and disease. Critical care is sometimes called "intensive care."
Function
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Critical care provides care for a variety of conditions, including trauma, complications from surgery, and infections. The goal of critical care is to stabilize and treat the patient until the life-threatening conditions subside.
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Features
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Critical care uses a variety of healthcare technologies, including feeding tubes, ventilators and monitors, reports the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Types
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There are three main types of critical care: full life support, trial treatment and comfort care, according to the American Thoracic Society. Each type is defined by the usage or absence of life support as well as the duration of its use.
Considerations
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Some 10 to 20 percent of patients die while receiving critical care. A large part of working in the field is helping families make decisions about the end of life, making the field emotionally trying and stressful at times.
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