Authors

Sergio Martínez Veny, Marita Calafell Alemany

Position

Diplomada/o en Enfermería. Servicio de Urgencias de la Fundación Hospital Son Llàtzer de Palma de Mallorca (Baleares).

Contact address

C/ Aragón, 229, 3º A. 07008 Palma de Mallorca, Baleares.

Contact email: sergio1978@terra.es

Abstract

In many hospitals of the Spanish territory, units specialised in how to treat patients in an unstable health condition are being set up as part of the Emergency & Casualty Dpt. Patients candidates for admission into these units are those whom, even with a severe deterioration of their health, do not meet all the criteria necessary for admission into the ICU. These newly created units are referred to as " Semi-Critical Care Units". There are still many hospitals, which for different reasons (physical structure, type of patients treated, and lack of human and/or material resources) do not have this sort of care units set up yet.
The purpose of this article is to describe based on our experience the structural characteristics that this type of units must have, as well as the professional profile of the nurse in charge, responsible for providing the best possible care to those patients admitted into such units.

Keywords:

Semi-critical care; critical care; emergencies; intensive care unitprofessional profile

Versión en Español

Título:

Unidad de cuidados para pacientes semicríticos