Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2010 | Page 126

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Island Life - October/November 2010

Above: Dr Oliver Cramer pictured with team members. Right: The Critical Response Mobile Unit

Intensive Care Unit

Team work at its best
An Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is an
integral part of any major hospital. And
it is reassuring to learn that the facility
at St Mary’s Hospital, Newport is among
the best in the whole South Central
Region of the Country.
The mere words ‘intensive care’ can
be daunting for patients and their
families, but as Dr Oliver Cramer, a
Consultant Anaesthetist with Special
Interest in Intensive Care Medicine,
explained: “The vast majority of people
who go into intensive care make a full
recovery.”
Dr. Cramer is also the Associate
Director of Medical Education and the
Clinical Lead for organ donation at the
hospital. In this interview he has given
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Island Life an insight into how the
intensive care unit at St Mary’s Hospital
operates, and the vital role it plays for
those who need it.
He said: “The unit offers six beds, plus
one additional emergency bed which
can be used for up to 24 hours to treat
vital emergencies. The beds are used
for intensive care and high dependency
care, as we do not have a separate high
dependency care unit. The definition
of intensive care refers to the level of
organs in the body which are supported
during treatment as required by the
patients. An advantage of being
admitted to ICU is that critically ill
patients can stay within the same
environment during the critical phase

of their illness. In plain English Intensive
Care means the support or replacement
of patients’ vital organs (eg: the heart,
lungs, kidneys, liver etc) when they fail
and give the patient time to recover
from their medical or surgical illness.
“Over an average year about 70
per cent of our patients suffer from
complications of a medical illness, with
the remainder coming to the unit after
major operations or multiple trauma.
Treatments carried out in ICU usually
includes respiratory support with a
ventilator and cardiovascular support
with potent drugs, the unit also has 3
haemofilters (a type of dialysis machine)
to provide renal support, all backed
up by the necessary state of the art

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