Critical Care

If you’re diagnosed with a serious illness or need close monitoring after an injury or surgery, you may be admitted to a UNC Health hospital. You’ll receive comprehensive, compassionate, round-the-clock critical care.

What Is Critical Care?

Critical care, or intensive care, helps treat you during life-threatening illnesses and injuries. You may receive this care in the emergency department or an intensive care unit after major:

• Accidents
• Illnesses
• Infections
• Injuries
• Surgery

Critical care relies on constant attention from medical professionals and care teams to help you heal and recover.

Conditions We Treat

Critical care is essential for conditions such as:

• Breathing trouble, including severe asthma attacks or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) flare-ups
• Drug overdose
• Heart attack or heart failure
• Kidney failure
• Sepsis, or septic shock
• Severe allergic reactions
• Severe burns
• Stroke
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Treatment & Technology

UNC Health critical care units offer comprehensive treatment with technology such as:

• Chest tube – Drains fluids or blood to make it easier to breathe
• Feeding tube – Sends food and nutrition to your body if you cannot eat
• Intravenous (IV) lines – Deliver fluids, medications, and nutrients through a small tube in your vein
• Ventilator – Breathes for your lungs if they do not work

UNC Health’s compassionate teams of care experts dedicate their lives to helping critical-care patients. That’s why so many hospitals inside and outside North Carolina refer their patients to our care.