Intensive care unit

Admitted patient care.

There are five different types and levels of ICU defined according to three main criteria: the nature of the facility, the care process and the clinical standards and staffing requirements. All levels and types of ICU must be separate and self-contained facilities in hospitals and, for clinical standards and staffing requirements, substantially conform to relevant guidelines of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS). The five types of ICU are briefly described below:

• Adult intensive care unit, level 3: must be capable of providing complex, multisystem life support for an indefinite period; be a tertiary referral centre for patients in need of intensive care services and have extensive backup laboratory and clinical service facilities to support the tertiary referral role. It must be capable of providing mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal renal support services and invasive cardiovascular monitoring for an indefinite period; or care of a similar nature.
• Adult intensive care unit, level 2: must be capable of providing complex, multisystem life support and be capable of providing mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal renal support services and invasive cardiovascular monitoring for a period of at least several days, or for longer periods in remote areas or care of a similar nature (see ACHS guidelines).
• Adult intensive care unit, level 1: must be capable of providing basic multisystem life support usually for less than a 24-hour period. It must be capable of providing mechanical ventilation and simple invasive cardiovascular monitoring for a period of at least several hours; or care of a similar nature.
• Paediatric intensive care unit: must be capable of providing complex, multisystem life support for an indefinite period; be a tertiary referral centre for children needing intensive care; and have extensive backup laboratory and clinical service facilities to support this tertiary role. It must be capable of providing mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal renal support services and invasive cardiovascular monitoring for an indefinite period to infants and children less than 16 years of age; or care of a similar nature.
• Neonatal intensive care unit, level 3: must be capable of providing complex, multisystem life support for an indefinite period. It must be capable of providing mechanical ventilation and invasive cardiovascular monitoring; or care of a similar nature. Definitions for high-dependency unit and coronary care unit are under development.