The cardiac care unit is also called a critical care unit or CCU. The full form of CCU can have different meanings depending on the context, but in the medical field, it most commonly stands for Coronary Care Unit or Critical Care Unit. Patients in the CCU have serious and unstable heart conditions that need immediate medical attention and are admitted to this special ward.
They can recover faster without warning. People in the CCU need to be watched 24/7. That’s why the Cardiac Care Unit is designed to provide round-the-clock care.
Conditions Managed in a Cardiac Care Unit Service
Acute heart attack or acute coronary syndrome is the most common reason a patient needs to be in the CCU.
Patients who may need to be in the CCU are:
- Decompensated heart failure
- Recovering from coronary bypass surgery
- Life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, acute coronary syndromes, unstable angina, or
- Close monitoring for severe heart failure (even if they’ve stabilized and are waiting for a heart transplant)
Here are the most common conditions:
- Sepsis
- Acute respiratory failure
- Acute kidney injury
Differences Between An ICU and a CCU
Patients
- ICU: Any patient undergoing a procedure.
- CCU: Heart patients.
Equipment
- ICU departments contain heart monitoring instruments, ventilators and syringe pumps alongside pacemakers and dialysis machines, as well as ophthalmoscopes, intravenous lines, DVT pumps, nebulizers, pulse oximeters, air beds, defibrillators, and infusion pumps, along with catheters, laryngoscopes, suction machines.
- CCU has all the equipment found in ICU, but it specializes in additional monitoring devices for heart health.
Subsets
- ICU departments include Neuro ICU, CCU, NICU, PACU and PICU services.
- CCU departments operate as a condensed version of the ICU.
Staff
- ICU teams include intensive care doctors along with occupational therapists and nutritionists, registered nurses, physical therapists and pharmacists and speech therapists and social workers.
- CCU employs heart-specialized surgeons, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to handle patient care in the ICU.
What to Expect in a Cardiac Care Unit
CCUs are prepared with the expert doctors and equipment needed to address heart patients’ issues and patients requiring continuous monitoring. Nurses, technicians, and all other providers in the critical care unit receive specialized training to provide medical support to patients facing life-threatening cardiac problems. They will care for patients 24 hours, 7 days a week.
Monitoring
The CCU requires every patient to receive continuous heart monitoring through a cardiac monitor at their bedside. In the case of a serious event, such as the patient developing an arrhythmia, the monitor monitors heart rhythms and detects if something irregular is occurring. Patients in this facility receive temporary arterial catheters through their wrist arteries to monitor blood pressure. The pulmonary artery also serves as a possible site for placing blood pressure monitoring catheters to track heart function.
Treatments
Patients in the CCU may require a wide range of treatments. Many will need more than one treatment, frequently depending on how sedated they are. Patients diagnosed with severe heart failure receive intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs) and left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as their medical equipment for heart pumping support. A Cardiac Care Unit must provide medical equipment such as IABPs and LVADs to manage heart failure patients with serious health conditions.
Testing
CCU patients need regular assessments through diagnostic procedures during their stay in the unit. The unit performs the testing, removing the need for patients to be transferred. Cardiovascular care units conduct the following tests as part of their standard diagnostic procedures: blood work, electrocardiograms, echocardiograms and chest X-rays.
Conclusion
Critical heart conditions, along with continuous monitoring, advanced treatment, and specialized care, require the establishment of a Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) for patients. From heart attacks to post-cardiac surgery care, CCUs provide focused care for stabilization and healing. At LCH Health Care, our cardiac care unit in Lahore is equipped with the latest technology and a team dedicated to providing the best possible care to our patients.
