Intensive Care Unit

Last updated: 12/31/2007

Cabell Huntington's Intensive Care Unit provides specialized care for adults with serious illnesses. Patients requiring individualized medical, surgical or heart care may stay in the unit, which also provides long-term care for patients in a critical or trauma state.

The unit has 20 beds and a staff of skilled and experienced registered nurses. The unit is located in the North Patient Tower, and it features large, comfortable private rooms with flat screen televisions, wireless internet access and floor-to-ceiling windows.

"As simple as it sounds, the windows in the rooms will really help with patient orientation. Typically, patients in a critical care environment find it difficult to differentiate between night and day. When there's natural light, that helps tremendously," said ICU nurse manager Dennie Letcher.

Each room is fully equipped with new electronic monitoring systems and lifesaving emergency equipment. One of the biggest advantages to the design of the new rooms is the change from a traditional headwall at the head of the bed to a column design. The move offers more flexibility in positioning a patient’s bed, as well as the equipment required for treatment.

"With this new design, there are two columns, six feet back from the wall, where the staff can position monitors or a ventilator on either side," she explained, "which allows the staff plenty of room to care for the patient and take advantage of the technology they need to treat and monitor the patient."

The rooms feature breakaway doors, which swing open wide for easier transport in and out of patients' rooms to undergo examinations, such as CT or MRI scans, elsewhere in the hospital. The ICU also includes six isolation rooms for the most immune-compromised patients.

Nurses keep patients' charts updated using computers located in every patient room or by using terminals located outside every two rooms. The unit has been redesigned to reflect a philosophy of decentralized nursing, with smaller nurses' stations much closer to the patients bedsides.

"The goal is to keep nurses at the patient’s bedside. We have a wonderful, really highly tenured staff," Letcher said.

There are conference room facilities and teleconferencing access. Families of ICU patients can enjoy several different waiting areas, and the largest waiting room has a kitchenette with a microwave oven and a refrigerator for the convenience of family members.

Visiting Hours

The staff members treating your loved one will advise you about visiting hours. The schedule below provides general guidelines.

6-6:30 a.m.
9-9:30 a.m.
noon-12:30 p.m.
3-3:30 p.m.
6-6:30 p.m.
9-9:30 p.m.

Contact Information:

Phone:

(304) 526-2385