The intensive care unit (ICU) at The James Cook University Hospital is situated on the first floor adjacent to theatres.
The ICUs are named ICU 2 (eight adult beds) and ICU 3 (eight adult beds).
The critical care medical team also oversees the care of critically ill patients in the surgical high dependency unit and spinal cord injury high dependency unit.
The critical care team is actively involved in research. Some of the projects we have underway, planned or recently completed are ProMISe, CRASH 3, Genosept, haemodynamic assessment of septic patients, the effect of exercise on patient fitness and quality of life after intensive care admission, amongst others.
Critical care plays an important role in education and training. We are part of the northern region advance training in intensive care.
We were actively involved in the development of a competency framework for critical care nurses at a regional level. At present we are also leading the educational initiatives for the acutely ill adult patient in the trust.
Some of the courses that critical care services lead on are ALS, Training for Transfer, Practical Procedures for Foundation Programme, IMPACT, Care of the Critically Ill Medical Patient, Critical Care Outreach Course, Non-Invasive Ventilation course, Acute Illness Management, Survive Sepsis course and Tracheostomy Care course.
We have recently developed an intensive care follow-up clinic which runs once a month and reviews ICU patients three months after discharge home.