Intensive Care Units
- HealthGrades Critical Care Excellence Award™ for 2 Years in a Row (2012-2013)
- Ranked Among the Top 5% in the Nation for Critical Care in 2013
- Ranked Among the Top 10 in CA for Critical Care in 2013 (Ranked 8 in 2013)
- Five-Star Recipient for Overall Critical Care in 2013
- Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Sepsis for 8 Years in a Row (2006-2013)
- Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Pulmonary Embolism in 2013
- Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Respiratory Failure for 3 Years in a Row (2011-2013)
Inintensive care is a specialized medical and nursing care provided to patients facing life-threatening illness or injury. It is estimated that 80 percent of all Americans will experience critical care services as the patient or family or friend of a patient during their lifetime.
Typical examples of critical illness include heart attack, poisoning, pneumonia, surgical complications, premature birth, and stroke. Critical care also includes trauma care - care of the severely injured - whether due to an automobile accident, gunshot or stabbing wounds, a fall, burns, or an industrial accident.
Critical care begins at the moment of illness or injury and continues throughout the patient's hospitalization, treatment, and subsequent recovery. Patients are rarely admitted directly to the critical care unit. Rather, they are usually admitted from the emergency room, trauma center or surgical area where they are first given care and stabilized.
Critical care nurses provide a high level of skilled nursing for continuous and total patient care. Their expertise and continuous presence allow critical care nurses to recognize subtle, but significant, changes in patient conditions, thereby preventing worsening conditions and minimizing complications that arise from critical illness. Registered nurses who receive highly specialized education become certified in critical care nursing and receive designation as "CCRN."
A new specialty for physicians has emerged from critical care medicine.
An intensivist is a physician with subspecialty training, or equivalent qualifications, in critical care medicine.
An intensivist directs the care of critically ill patients and works in collaboration with other health care professionals necessary for the care of patients in critical care units.
Intensive care units involve health care professionals from different disciplines: medical, nursing, and allied health, providing the skills in a collaborative, cooperative, and coordinated fashion. The three intensive care units at Northridge Hospital provide the highest level of care available to critically ill patients.
- Our combined 32-bed Intensive and Coronary Care Unit (ICU and CCU) features advanced technology for medical, cardiac, respiratory, and trauma patients.
- The 22-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) cares for critically ill newborns, requiring expertise to treat the smallest, sickest, and most fragile babies.
- Our 8-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) cares for seriously ill children.
- The Cardiovascular Unit provides around-the-clock medical attention for patients with cardiac and vascular diagnoses. The Cardiovascular Unit exists to support the patient requiring close observation services including post-CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft) surgery, post-vascular surgeries, post-cardiac, and radiology intervention.
- The Telemetry unit provides around-the-clock medical attention and is considered an intermediate unit providing specialized services to patients with cardiac and pulmonary diagnosis. The Telemetry unit exists to support all medical cardiology patients requiring frequent nursing care and continuous telemetry monitoring.
