Fifty years ago, critically ill patients were left in the care of around-the-clock nurses, left mainly to bedside monitoring and little physician interaction or technology.
Now, hospitals have dedicated intensive care units monitored by highly trained specialists, and many have separate specialty units for surgical, cardiac or neonatal patients.
“Critical care as a group has gotten so big and specialized,” said Dr. Romergryko Geocadin, director of the Neuroscience Critical Care Unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Johns Hopkins Bayview, the first multidisciplinary intensive care unit in the country, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, reflecting on the history of critical care and the challenges it faces in the future. Hospitals are planning a daylong symposium Friday.
Dr. Peter Safar, known as the father of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, opened the first ICU at Baltimore City Hospitals, which later became Johns Hopkins Bayview. Many hospitals model their ICUs after Hopkins, which now has six specialty-care ICUs.
Safar recognized these patients required special care, and “could just crash and die,” Geocadin said. The ICU provides medical and nursing care for continuous, specialized treatment.
Over the years, nurses have also become more specialized, said Zeina Khouri-Stevens, director of nursing for surgery and neurosciences.
There is also a lot more technology requiring more expertise, she said.
“It used to be one big ICU with some training, but now there is a certification to be trained in ICU and specialty [care],” Khouri-Stevens said.
As with many other fields in health care, intensive care faces staffing challenges, Geocadin said. Patients are getting older and sicker, requiring more expertise and specialized training.
“Now we realize it’s not enough to have just a good physician,” he said. “You have to have an excellent team.”
