CCU

Service/Responsibilities

Coronary Care is a 15-bed cardiac/medical critical care unit that specializes in caring for critically ill cardiac/medical patients. Common diagnoses included angina, acute MI, congestive heart failure and respiratory failure. CCU functions as a member of the code blue team, with staff members responding to all cardiac/respiratory arrest calls.

Technology

Patients are monitored  from the bedside and with a central monitor located at the nursing station. Equipment includes ventilators, swan ganz catheters and intra-aortic balloon pumps. Computerized and flow sheet charting is utilized by the nursing staff. Physician orders are placed using a word-based product and unit-dose medications are secured in an Omnicell.

Staffing

The average daily census is ten patients with an average length of stay of less than two days. Staffing ratios range from 1:1 to 3:1, depending on patient need and acuity. Patients are care for 24 hours a day by registered nurses who are assisted by unit clerks and nurse assistants. A clinical supervisor works each shift. The clinical supervisors may or may not take a patient assignment depending on the needs of the unit.  A four-week schedule is created by the staff utilizing a self-scheduling model. Nurses may be floated to the Cardiac Step-down unit when census is low. All staff is expected to rotate on-call/low census.

Training/Continuing Education

All nurses are required to attend acute and critical care classes and successfully complete the dysrhythmia course. ACLS must also be obtained within  one year of hire. Educational offerings are posted regularly so that nurses can fulfill continuing education requirements. Cardiac in-service sessions are also available. Nurses without a critical care background usually require 8-12 weeks of orientation under the direction of a preceptor.

Continuous Quality Improvement

Staff members are active in process improvement initiatives such as the Acute MI task force, Skin Breakdown and Prevention teams and the Institute For Healthcare Improvement’s critical care initiative to create a safer environment for patients.