Critical Care Medicine and Intensive Care

Our intensive care units bring together specialist intensive care doctors (intensivists), critical care nurses, specialised physiotherapists and a wider multidisciplinary team to care for patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, or those who require intensive monitoring. Our Dubai and Abu Dhabi hospitals, we provide adult intensive care units (ICUs) and high dependency units (HDUs), alongside dedicated neonatal and paediatric intensive care services. Our units are equipped to deliver advanced treatments, including invasive and non-invasive respiratory support, mechanical ventilation, kidney support (dialysis), circulatory support, specialised nutritional therapy and the management of serious infections such as sepsis.

What is critical care medicine?

Critical care, also known as intensive care, provides specialist treatment for patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, or those who require close monitoring and support for failing organs. Some patients are admitted as emergencies, while others receive planned intensive care following major surgery or complex procedures.

What sets critical care apart is the level of monitoring and support. Patients are cared for around the clock with continuous monitoring of their heart, breathing and blood pressure, alongside highly specialised nursing care, typically with one nurse caring for one or two patients. Our intensivists lead the multidisciplinary team, working closely with surgeons, physicians and other specialists to provide coordinated care, support recovery and safely transition patients to a general ward when they are ready.

Areas within critical care

Intensive Care Unit (ICU): Provides around-the-clock care for adults (typically aged 18 and over) with life-threatening illnesses or injuries who require continuous monitoring and advanced support for one or more failing organs.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU): Cares for newborn babies who are premature, have a low birth weight or require specialist treatment for serious medical conditions during the first days or weeks of life.

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU): Provides specialist intensive care for critically ill infants, children and teenagers. The unit is designed to meet the unique needs of younger patients, with age-appropriate equipment, treatments and highly specialised care.

Who is cared for in critical care?

Patients reach critical care from several parts of the hospital: from the emergency department, from a ward when they become more unwell, or straight from operating theatre after major surgery. Situations that can lead to an ICU admission include:

• Recovery from major or complex surgery
• A serious infection (sepsis) such as severe pneumonia
• Failure of one or more organs, such as the lungs, heart or kidneys
• Difficulty in breathing requiring high oxygen supplementation or a breathing machine (ventilator)
• A serious accident, severe injury or major burns

If admission is needed, the medical team will discuss this with you and keep you and your family informed at every stage. Whenever possible, patients are encouraged to take an active role in decisions about their care, ensuring they understand their treatment and what to expect next.

What to expect

In the ICU, patients are closely monitored at all times and, if needed, supported with specialist equipment to help with breathing, kidney function or circulation while their body recovers. Tubes, drips, monitors and medical equipment are a normal part of intensive care, and alarms may sound to alert the team if changes need attention. Many patients receive medication to relieve pain and keep them comfortable or asleep while they receive treatment.

As someone improves, the support is lowered step by step until they no longer need intensive care and can move to a ward. Recovery takes time, and some people notice weakness, tiredness or low mood for a while afterwards. Throughout the stay, the team explains what is happening and involves the patient and their family in decisions about care.

Critical care at Mediclinic

We provide adult intensive care and high dependency care at our hospitals. Each unit is led by specially trained intensive care doctors called intensivists, working closely with critical care nurses, respiratory therapists and physiotherapists. These units stay open day and night, every day of the year, and day-to-day support includes mechanical ventilation, kidney dialysis and invasive monitoring of the heart and circulation.

Additionally, Rapid Response and Cardiac Arrest (or Code Blue) teams respond to critical emergencies from across the hospital. The ICU takes referrals from other specialities such as neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, and stroke care. We also run neonatal intensive care for newborn babies and paediatric intensive care for critically ill children.