Critical Care
The critical care team at MarinHealth Medical Center is comprised of an intensive care unit (ICU) and a step-down unit. The ICU provides specialized care for patients who require intensive monitoring around the clock, including patients recovering from open-heart surgery, trauma/neurosurgical patients, and patients experiencing multi-organ system failure.
Located in our new Oak Pavilion, the ICU has 19 spacious rooms, equipped with the most current technologies. An additional eight ICU beds are located on the second floor of the Cedar Pavilion. To treat highly infectious patients, we have two permanent airborne isolation rooms and the ability to convert eight more, as needed.
(Watch the above video to learn more about intensive care at MarinHealth
Medical Center)
All Oak Pavilion ICU rooms have private bathrooms. ICU rooms are equipped with lifts to safely move patients on and off the bed, and special e-ICU technology that allows patients and providers to communicate virtually if needed. If a patient needs help when a nurse isn’t in the room, our improved call system route messages to the nurse anywhere in the hospital.
Electronic in-room signage auto-updates patient information so it’s always accurate and available to care team members. As an ICU patient’s condition stabilizes, he or she transitions to our Step-Down Unit, which provides specialized care to medically complicated patients.
Patients can come to the ICU from the emergency department (ED) or from other departments in the hospital. Because of the critical state of our patients, and the complex nature of the care we give, we have to set regulations and guidelines for visitors.
Our Team
Our multidisciplinary team is made up of a variety of intensive care experts and support staff working together seamlessly:
- Intensivists are ICU doctors, board certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, anesthesiology, or surgery. Our intensivists have completed an additional fellowship and certification in critical care medicine. They oversee a patient’s medical care and diagnostic tests and are in charge of treatment decisions.
- Registered nurses provide most of the hands-on, daily care. They evaluate patients several times a day, watch over their care, and monitor the equipment in the room. There are several shift changes over the course of each 24-hour period, so visitors usually meet several of the nurses caring for their loved one.
- Respiratory therapists work with patients having difficulty breathing. This may include administering vapor medications and/or delivering extra oxygen through nasal prongs, a facemask, or ventilator.
- Physical therapists help patients improve their strength and flexibility after an accident or illness.
- Dietitians give advice about nutrition and special dietary concerns.
- Social workers and case managers help with financial matters, insurance, community resources, and planning for the patient’s return home.
- Chaplains are available for spiritual and emotional support for families and patients. We have priests, rabbis, ministers, and nondenominational chaplains available.
- Technicians, support staff, and volunteers monitor medical equipment, draw blood, move patients, and serve meals.
- Critical Care Specialists, also known as intensivists, provide expert consultation for patients who are hospitalized in our critical care unit, whether in intensive care or step-down critical care.
In intensive care (ICU), critical care specialists see a wide variety of patients with life-threatening illnesses, including:
- Problems with blood pressure or heart rhythm
- Severe infections and sepsis
- Kidney or liver failure
- Trauma
- Respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation
- Post-operative care
Intensivists collaborate with other medical specialists to provide comprehensive care to the patient. Most importantly, intensivists provide counseling to patients and their families regarding prognosis and appropriate options for treatment in the ICU.