Understanding The Different Types of Acute Care

Acute care is a form of treatment given to cases of severe injury, recovery from surgery, an urgent medical condition, or even a serious bout of illness.

Because of the immediacy of the situation, these treatments are active and administered in the short term. It also involves the participation of several members of the hospital staff, from nurses to surgeons, and even non-clinical staff needed for post-care support.

Settings for Acute Care

Depending on the severity of the case, acute care may be administered in an urgent care center, in the emergency department of a hospital, or ambulatory surgery center. It would also require diagnostic services and outpatient care support.

Other serious cases may need to be taken care of from intensive care, coronary care, or neonatal intensive care. The primary objective of administering acute care to hospital-based inpatient care patients is to get their condition stabilized at the soonest possible time so they can be transferred to another unit that would be able to more accurately address the issue.

Administering Care

Medical staff providing acute care treatment usually involve nurses and emergency room surgeons. The nurses, especially, are expected to be the first to check up on the patient as soon as there is any change in the patient’s condition, whether good or bad.

They have to be ready to respond to whatever development may occur, and this includes giving emergency first aid as needed. On the other hand, if the patient’s condition is improving, then it is also the job of the acute nurses to inform the family of this development.

Patients have to be tended to every day, as they should be under close observation and supervision. That is also why some rooms may need to be equipped with video monitoring. Families may also be asked to sit in and watch over the patient as well.

Again, the main objective is to get the patient well and stable enough to get them moved to a higher level of care. All the close observation is therefore so that any changes to the patient’s condition will be addressed as soon as possible.

Medical Staff

Because of the important role of the acute nurse, it is crucial for them to not only have not only the basic knowledge of how to administer it, but it would also be very helpful for them to pursue higher levels of education.

One way to do this is by taking up Masters in nursing online. This is especially helpful for those who would like to focus their practice on one specific area, such as family primary care, pediatrics-primary care, and acute care.