Memorial Hospital opened its cardiovascular intensive care unit last week.
The CVICU has 18 rooms with six critical care beds and 12 progressive care beds for cardiovascular surgery patients. It is focused on cardiovascular and thoracic postoperative recovery.
Memorial, at 3625 University Blvd. S., said opening the unit is in response to increased volume and complexity in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery patients.
“Our patient population preexisting conditions have gotten more complex in general compared to other facilities,” said CVICU Medical Director Dale Mueller.
“The amount of emphysema, amount of diabetes, the amount of vascular disease, previous stroke has made those patients much more complex to handle postoperatively,” he said.
Mueller, a Memorial Hospital cardiologist, was appointed medical director. Critical Care Director Angelo Podes, who’s been at the hospital for 19 years, will serve as the unit’s nurse leader.
The unit replaced Memorial Hospital’s pediatrics ward, which Podes said “didn’t work out as well as we’d liked.”
Because the CVICU has critical care and progressive care beds within the same unit, patients can move from surgery to critical care into progressive care beds and then be discharged. Patients typically stay in the unit for five to six days.
“It means a lot for continuity of care that they’re in the same unit the whole time during their stay,” Podes said. “Once they’re admitted to that unit, they never leave the unit until they’re discharged.”
To run the CVICU, 45 staff members will be hired.
