Critical Care

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Intensive Care Unit:

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a 15-bed Level III unit that provides observation, care and treatment for patients of all ages with life threatening illnesses and injuries from which recovery is possible. The ICU is the only Level III unit in the Midland region.  A Level III unit includes: two college intensive care trained consultants, a full-time intensivist and clinical provisions e.g. dialysis.  As a tertiary provider of intensive care services, the ICU currently transports over 330 patients per year both within and outside the Midland region. The ICU team co-ordinates the administration of parental nutrition and supervises the management of patients in the high dependency unit. The ICU team is also an integral component of the cardiac arrest and trauma teams at Waikato Hospital. In broad terms, the ICU currently provides care for approximately 420 cardiac cases per year, 220 paediatric cases per year, and 550 general adult cases per year.

Critical Care Department reports Annual Report 2010-2011Annual Report 2009-2010Annual Report 2008-2009 VIDEO: Former Waikato Hospital ICU patient speaks of his progress

High Dependency Unit:

The High Dependency Unit (HDU) is a 12 bed unit that provides special expertise and facilities for adult patients requiring intensive monitoring and treatment following surgery, trauma and medical or surgical conditions.

It is an intermediate level intensive care service recognised by the Faculty of Intensive Care, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. The provision of high dependency care, separate from the intensive care setting, is unique to Health Waikato, and is a flagship for new high dependency units around Australasia.

The HDU currently provides care for over 1723 patients a year. This includes the following specialities: general surgery (28%), medicine (18%), vascular and thoracic (13%), orthopaedic (5%) and other surgical teams (14%).

Who we are:

The team comprises:

• Five intensivists
• 10 registrars
• Seven nurse leaders and nursing team
• Three respiratory technicians
• Allied health team
  

We provide:

• Full orientation
• Assignment to team for six months
• Four-six hours training per week
• Part 1 and 2 training sessions
• Mentoring system
  

Teaching Programme:  

• Weekly grand round
• Weekly microbiology meetings
• Weekly journal club
• Daily X-ray session
  

Clinical Facilities:

• Intensive Care Unit 1 & 2
• High Dependency Unit