What to expect

When a patient arrives at the ICU, our highly-trained team works together to stabilize the patient. We understand that waiting to hear the status of a patient’s health is extremely difficult. We meet with caregivers at the earliest possible opportunity.

The ICU has a variety of equipment including monitors, ventilators, and dialysis machines. This equipment can be noisy and alarms may go off. The alarms are safety measures and do not necessarily mean the patient is in danger.

A social worker and/or spiritual care practitioner are available throughout a patient’s ICU stay and after ICU discharge for guidance or assistance. 

Communication in the ICU

Good communication between patients, families, caregivers and our ICU team is very important.

Every morning the ICU team meets for "rounds". This is when the team visits the patient's bedside to discuss the plan of care and make decisions involving all team members. 

Within the first few days of a patient being in the ICU, we may have a caregiver meeting. This gives families and caregivers an opportunity to meet members of the care team, to participate in the care plan, to ask questions and for the care team to learn more about the patient. 

We provide a daily update on a patient’s health status to the substitute decision maker (SDM) or power of attorney (POA).  

Leaving the ICU

If a patient no longer requires ICU level of care, they may be transferred to another hospital ward or to a different hospital.