Critical care

Critical care is for hospital patients with serious health problems who need intensive medical care and monitoring. Examples of patients who need critical care includes those who undergo very invasive surgery or who have poor outcomes after surgery, those who are severely injured in an accident, people with serious infections, or people who have trouble breathing on their own and require a ventilator to breathe for them. Critical care also is called intensive care. Critical care treatment takes place in an intensive care unit (ICU) in a hospital. Patients may have a serious illness or injury. In the ICU, patients get round-the-clock care by a specially trained team.