Respiratory Intensive Care Unit

 In-charge : Dr. Rajnish Gupta

Dhanvantari Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (ICU), functional since August 1996, is a 14-bed unit for providing critical care to patients with respiratory illnesses. The building was constructed under the auspices of Shri Adya Katyayini Shakti Peeth Mandir Chattarpur, New Delhi and has state- of-art equipment for managing acutely ill respiratory patients. Nearly 400-500 seriously ill patients are being treated in ICU every year.

The ICU provides round the clock diagnostic and treatment facilities in the form of invasive / non-invasive mechanical ventilatory support and appropriate intensive measures to all those patients having critical medical illnesses of a pre-dominant respiratory nature and to those who have undergone thoracic surgical interventions within the Institute. The medical care is supervised by the In-charge ICU and the respective Unit In-charges as mentioned below.

                 In-charge, Unit-I             Dr. Anand Jaiswal

                 In-charge, Unit –II          Dr. Rupak Singla

                 In-charge, Unit-III          Dr. M. M. Puri

                 In-charge, Unit-IV           Prof (Dr.) D. Behera

                 In-charge, Unit-V             Dr. Rohit Sarin

Assistance, whenever required, is taken from the other specialists of TB & Chest, Thoracic Surgery, Anaesthesia, Medicine, Paediatrics, Microbiology, Pathology and Radiology departments. Trained senior and junior residents, nursing staff and other supporting staff are available on round the clock basis. Availability of a physiotherapist, a psychologist and a medical social worker facilitates the early mobilisation and the psychological care of the patients.

Training and Research

Regular teaching and training on critical management is being imparted to the senior residents, DNB students, junior residents, other doctors and nursing staff during their ICU postings. Lectures, seminars, journal clubs and case presentations are organized for the residents as per their academic schedule to cover the subject in the teaching curriculum. Training is being given in endo-tracheal intubations, handling of invasive/ non-invasive mechanical ventilation, performing various procedures like insertions of central venous catheterizations etc. and in taking critical clinical management decisions at crucial times. Beneficiaries have included the doctors of the other Institutes as well. Last year, a 7-day ICU training was given to two DNB trainees from Ispat General Hospital, SAIL, Rourkela, Orissa from 2^nd  to 9^th  April 2008.

The ICU was involved in the conduct of a prospective research study entitled “A comparison of APACHE II predicted mortality with observed mortality in an Indian Respiratory ICU” on 393 consecutive patients admitted over the 18 month period, the results of which were published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research in June 2004 as an article entitled “Performance evaluation of APACHE II score for an Indian patient with respiratory problems.” Another research project is underway in ICU this year as well.