Critical Care Unit

The Northern Hospital's Critical Care Department (CCD) incorporates 10 combined Intensive Care/ High Dependency Unit beds as well as 4 Coronary Care beds and 4 Telemetry (monitored) beds. Highly trained staff and Clinical Educators facilitate learning, both at the bedside and through in-services and study days. Patients requiring ICU or HDU care commonly include those with Respiratory Failure (often requiring ventilation), Sepsis, Diabetic Keto-acidosis, patients who are unstable/unwell Post-Op - typically following major abdominal surgery, and those with fluid imbalance or haemodynamic failure - requiring invasive monitoring.

Coronary Care caters for patients following AMI or Angioplasty (undertaken in the Northern Hospital Cardiac Cath Lab), and Telemetry allows for cardiac monitoring of patients requiring stabilisation and/or cardiac investigation prior to general ward admission.

Further Studies:  The Critical Care Foundation Program (52 week duration) has been designed to introduce the RN to highly specialised technical skills and knowledge in ICU with a focus of then continuing on to formal ICU certification, such as Postgraduate Certificate in Critical Care, in association with RMIT (52 weeks).