Intensive Care Unit

What Is the Intensive Care Unit?

Which Patients Stay in Intensive Care?

The intensive care unit is a special hospital department where patients who are generally at life-threatening risk due to various health problems are closely monitored and receive advanced treatment support.

Patients receiving treatment in intensive care are generally people in critical condition. In many cases, they need support for one or more vital organs such as the lungs, heart, or kidneys. Patients may also be admitted to intensive care after major surgery, such as heart surgery, when very close monitoring is required.

The intensive care process is vital not only for adults but also for premature babies or newborns who require special care after birth.

Treatment in intensive care is a challenging process that requires patience for both patients and their families. Close follow-up of patients, as well as informing families accurately and transparently about this process, is one of our top priorities.

Within Daviva Health Group's Intensive Care Department, in our Adult, Cardiovascular Surgery, Coronary, Pediatric, and Neonatal Intensive Care Units, 24-hour uninterrupted life support is aimed with our advanced technological infrastructure and expert team of physicians.

Which Patients Are Admitted to Intensive Care?

Patients at risk of life-threatening conditions due to various health problems, and people who have undergone major surgery and need close monitoring, are admitted to intensive care.

General Intensive Care Unit

Postoperative follow-up patients: This includes special 24-hour monitoring and support for managing high-risk patients. It focuses on hemodynamic stability, pain management, and respiratory function to prevent possible complications. Urgent postoperative needs such as fluid management, early mobilization, and infection prevention are prioritized.

Multiple organ failure: Multiple Organ Failure Syndrome usually develops as a result of sepsis, trauma, or severe infection. It is a critical intensive care unit condition characterized by progressive failure of two or more organ systems. It is one of the leading causes of death in intensive care. Treatment is fully supportive, focusing on preserving organ function while treating the underlying cause.

Respiratory failure: It is one of the leading causes of admission to intensive care units. It is a critical condition in which the lungs cannot provide enough oxygen or remove enough carbon dioxide. It often requires emergency mechanical ventilation or high-flow oxygen.

Sepsis and septic shock: Sepsis is an excessive response of the body to infection. It can rapidly progress to septic shock and lead to multiple organ failure. Intensive care teams administer broad-spectrum antibiotics, intravenous fluids, and medications called vasopressors to maintain blood pressure. Continuous monitoring helps track organ function. Early intensive care intervention is crucial to prevent irreversible organ damage.

Stroke and brain hemorrhage: Brain hemorrhage occurs as a result of interruption of blood flow to the brain and death of brain cells. Patients with traumatic brain injury or severe stroke need specialized intensive care services to prevent secondary damage such as bleeding or seizures. Intensive care units monitor neurological function. During this process, blood pressure is managed and respiratory support is provided when necessary.

Cardiovascular Surgery and Coronary Intensive Care Unit

Coronary bypass surgery: After coronary artery bypass surgery, patients are transferred to the intensive care unit for 1-3 days for close monitoring. Care focuses on stabilizing breathing, monitoring heart rhythm, managing pain, and ensuring graft function.

Heart attack (myocardial infarction): The intensive care process after a heart attack focuses on rapidly stabilizing the patient, reopening blocked coronary vessels, and controlling possible risks. During this process, the heart rhythm is continuously monitored; medications that thin the blood and prevent clotting (aspirin and similar drugs) and treatments that relax the vessels are administered. The main goal is to quickly reopen the blocked vessel, usually with methods such as angiography (PCI), restore blood flow to the heart, and eliminate the life-threatening risk by keeping the patient under close observation.

Rhythm disorders (arrhythmia): Intensive care treatment for heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias) focuses on rapidly assessing the patient's overall condition, correcting the underlying problems causing it, such as mineral deficiencies in the body or lack of oxygen, and intervening urgently with medications or electrical methods. The main strategies in this process include using medications that regulate the heart rate or rhythm (such as beta blockers), and for critically ill patients, correcting the heart rhythm with a defibrillator (cardioversion) or inserting a pacemaker.

Major vascular surgery: Intensive care management of aortic aneurysm or dissection cases focuses on controlling blood pressure and managing postoperative complications. Patients are usually monitored to ensure that vital signs are stable. Intensive care follow-up is essential for ruptured aneurysms or acute dissections requiring emergency repair.

Heart failure and cardiogenic shock: Cardiogenic shock occurs when, due to a heart condition, the heart cannot provide enough blood and oxygen to vital organs. This condition can rapidly lead to multiple organ failure and death. Rapid intervention is vital to eliminate the underlying cause of heart failure and cardiac shock. The use of mechanical circulatory support technologies or hemodynamic stabilization increases survival rates.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Premature (Preterm) Care

Preterm birth is a birth that occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy. In some cases, if the mother or baby has a health condition, preterm birth may be planned and carried out by doctors. In both cases, the newborn baby needs life support.

• Heart rate, breathing, oxygen levels, and temperature are kept under 24-hour control in neonatal intensive care.
• Since the lungs of especially premature babies are often underdeveloped, respiratory support is vital during intensive care.
• These babies' sucking abilities are not yet developed. Therefore, they should be fed with special feeding tubes.
• The immune systems of premature babies are weak. Therefore, sterilization is very important during care.
• Premature babies may need regular screenings for vision, hearing, and neurodevelopmental delays.
• Before leaving the hospital, parents are educated about safe sleep, avoiding infection, and monitoring breathing problems.

Supportive Therapies Used in Neonatal Intensive Care

Respiratory Support Therapies: The respiratory support applied in neonatal intensive care is determined according to the degree of distress the baby is experiencing.

• Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP): Continuous air is delivered using nasal prongs or masks to keep the lungs open. It is commonly used in premature babies with respiratory distress syndrome.
• Nasal Intermittent Positive Pressure Ventilation (NIPPV): Two pressure levels are applied to help lung expansion.
• Heated Humidified High-Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC): Provides heated and humidified air at higher flow rates.
• Nasal Cannula Oxygen Therapy: Provides low-flow oxygen to newborns with low oxygen levels.

Treatment of Neonatal Jaundice: The vast majority of newborn babies experience neonatal jaundice.

• In neonatal intensive care, a special blue or green light treatment called phototherapy may first be applied to break down bilirubin.
• In more severe cases of jaundice, it is treated with exchange transfusions.