Our Intensive Care Unit is available 24/7. Please reserve your spot through our Admitting Department. You can reach us at 8988-1000, locals 6284 or 6384.
Intensive Care Unit
The Medical City’s Intensive Care Unit is located at the 3rd Floor, Nursing Tower, Podium Building.
PHONE: 8-988-1000 / 8-988-7000 ext. 6284/6384
The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of The Medical City hospital runs in an open-model approach with highly-competent medical specialists and well-trained nurses providing excellent and compassionate care for critically ill patients.
The ICU operates on a 27-bed capacity with 1:1 or 1:2 nurse-to-patient ratio, complemented by senior-level on-site medical house staff and ICU Physicians to ensure continuous high-quality patient care.
The ICU operates on an open-model approach, which means that our medical specialists work collaboratively to treat patients using the latest medical technology and equipment.
ICU or critical care unit has 6 Cardiac, and 6 Medical/Surgical beds; 6 Special ICU (Isolation A and B) beds; and 4 Pediatric beds. The Telemetry unit (TLM) has five intermediate care beds. Each room in the ICU complex, including the nearby Acute Stroke Unit, is equipped with a top-of-the-line multiparameter physiologic monitor linked to a centralized system with dedicated monitoring personnel. The ICU operates on a 1:1 or 1:2 nurse to patient ratio, always complemented by senior-level on-site medical house staff to ensure continuous high quality patient care.
Previously, care for critically ill pediatric patients has involved a team of Pediatric Intensivist Physicians. Beginning in 2007, a semi-closed two-tier ICU model engaging Adult Intensivist Physicians (co-managing with our traditional medical specialists) has been institutionalized with great success. An intensivist is a doctor trained in critical care who can handle the multiple, often interrelated, problems that happen when the body is shutting down from infection or trauma. This model is currently being adopted by more hospitals in the Philippines.
Multi-parameter physiologic monitoring of all patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) consists of an advanced electronic modular system at each bedside, integrated into a central monitor. Dedicated nurses man the central monitoring station in the ICU department 24 hours daily.
ICU boasts of the following:
We have two nurses who play an important role in our critical care unit.
Central Monitor - ECG Nurse
Responsible for monitoring all patients’ cardiac rhythm and vital signs, and in-charge of documenting for every shift and patient monitoring, including changes in cardiac rhythm. For any changes in the cardiac rhythm/arrhythmias, the nurse informs physicians for immediate management. The ECH Nurse is also in-charge of receiving reservations for ICU admission and assigned room based on ICU Admission Criteria.
Code Nurse
Takes charge of responding to all Code Calls in the hospital. We have two types of Codes: Code White for sudden change in patient condition such as seizure, difficulty of breathing, fall, etc. and Code Blue for unresponsive patients who need cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The ECG Nurse ensures that the code cart is complete, and the defibrillator is functional. He/she also collects all records of codes responses through documentation and ensures that they are able to respond within 5 minutes.
Each ICU room is equipped with a continuous top-of-the-line cardiac and multi-parameter physiologic non-invasive and optional invasive monitor linked into a centralized system with dedicated monitoring personnel.
The Medical City Intensive Care Unit Physicians and Nurses are trained and capable of performing specialized procedure such as Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.
Inside the ICU complex are the following areas:
TMC is a pioneer in Adult Critical Care Medicine (CCM) in the country. To date, TMC has a complement of 16 Adult CCM specialists from different base specialties (Medicine, Surgery, and Anesthesia). Only specialists who have undergone formal dedicated training in a Critical Care Unit/Intensive Care Unit qualify as TMC Intensivists.
TMC was also the first to offer a comprehensive CCM fellowship program, set at international standards, and recognized by the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP). At present, the program has produced 5 graduates. TMC’s fellowship trainees take the annual US Critical Care in-service examination and perform as well as their counterparts in the US Critical Care fellowship programs. This means that TMC’s trainees would be expected to pass the US Critical Care board examinations.
What is Adult Critical Care Medicine?
Adult Critical Care Medicine (CCM) is a multidisciplinary healthcare specialty for adult patients with unstable or life-threatening conditions. It is also known as Intensive Care Medicine. It is the discipline that is dedicated to caring for patients who require admission to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). A CCM specialist is also known as an “Intensivist.”
CCM is a modern specialty. The first ICUs opened in Europe in the late 1950s and rapidly spread to North America. Certification of physicians in this field did not occur in the United States until 1986. In the Philippines, the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), the organization of Internists (doctors for adults), recently recognized Adult CCM as a distinct specialty of Internal Medicine. However, many Intensivists worldwide practice with base specialties in Surgery or Anesthesia.
What distinguishes Adult CCM from other specialties?
CCM has been called a “super-specialty,” because while it shares many features with other specialties, it is designed to address the complexities and uncertainties of caring for the sickest patients. CCM aims to align and integrate complex care into a cohesive and comprehensive whole, to maximize long-term survival and to minimize disability.
The primary mission of CCM is to protect the quality of human life in the face of life-threatening illness.
What is an ICU?
Intensive care units (ICU) are places in the hospital where the most seriously ill patients are cared for by specially trained staff. The ICU has the highest density of healthcare providers per square foot in the hospital. It is also defined by high technology and complex care.
ICU patients are the sickest patients. They are those with the most severe disease of one or more organ-systems. Patients who require any of the following are best cared for in an ICU setting: frequent monitoring, special monitoring devices, special medications and technology to support and sustain normal bodily functions.