Newman Regional Health’s six-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is fully equipped with state-of-the-art technology for the monitoring and care of patients.

The caring and highly trained nursing staff of the ICU provides specialized care for adult patients that are in critical need of 24/7 attention as they recover from a wide range of acute conditions.

A few of the advanced care services that are conducted in the ICU include:

• Coronary care
• Advance cardiac life support
• Monitoring heart rhythms through cardiac monitoring (telemetry)
• Management of critical medication
• Administration of treatments such as IV Insulin, IV cardiac medications, and medications used for sedation
• Provide care for patients on ventilators
• Monitor and care for heart attack patients
• Monitor and care of cardiac catheterization lab patients
• Care for patients awaiting permanent pacemaker placement
• Care for patients with Sepsis
• Care for Diabetic crisis patients including those suffering with Diabetic Ketoacidosis
• Provides close monitoring of vital signs and lab values that assist providers in treatment selection
• Post-anesthesia recovery
• Hemodynamic monitoring

A Special Word to Families with patients in the Intensive Care Unit

You are an important member of the health care team! You may feel overwhelmed and frightened, but there are positive ways you can help yourself and the patient you love. Your role as a member of the health care team is to provide emotional support to the patient through your visits.

A waiting room next to the ICU especially for families of ICU patients is provided. There is a computer with games and internet access in the ICU waiting room for family members to use.

You are invited to eat in the Snack Bar or the hospital’s cafeteria, Newman Café. Both locations are on the ground floor near the East Entrance. For hours that each location is open, please read the signs that are posted by either the Snack Bar or Neman Café entrance. A vending area with food and drinks is located next to the Emergency Department.

Many local hotels offer discount rate for family members of hospitalized patients.

Suggestions for families visiting patients in the Intensive Care Unit

The ICU has open visiting hours at the discretion of the nurse. Immediate family members or significant others can come at any time to check on the patient and spend time with him or her.
The critical care nurse taking care of your family member will work closely with both you and the patient to ensure a quality visit. Keeping in mind the best interest of the patient, we would make these suggestions to help you optimize your visits:

• Feel free to check to see if the patient is resting. Please do not enter the room if the patient appears to be sleeping as this can rouse the patient from a light sleep.
• Sit with the patient at intervals if this seems to be soothing to the patient.
• Keep in mind the need for the patient to rest. Mealtimes can be a good time for a conversational visit.
• Fresh flowers are not permitted in the room.
• Patient assessment times are: midnight, 4 a.m., 8 a.m., noon, 4 p.m., and 8 p.m. Our assessments are usually completed in the 30 minutes before or after these times. This may be a good time for you to take a break and rest. We are concerned about your health also.
• Please limit the number of immediate family visitors to two in the room at a time.
• The nurse will contact you if there are any changes in your family member’s condition or if he or she requests that you be called. Please be sure to leave phone numbers with the nurse where you or other family can be reached when you are away from the hospital.
• Feel free to call the ICU nurse’s desk at any time if you have concerns. If you have a large family, it is best to provide a spokesperson to communicate with the nurse. By only giving information once, the nurse can spend more time with each patient.
• Smoking Policy: Newman Regional Health has joined hospitals across Kansas in an effort to be tobacco-free. As a health care organization, we are committed to the health and safety of our employees and patients. For this reason, tobacco use of any kind is not permitted – inside or outside – on hospital property.
• Nighttime suggestions: We try to allow uninterrupted sleep periods of 2-3 hours when at all possible. If your family member is sleeping, this may be a time when you would want to go home to rest or sleep in the family waiting room. Lights go down at 9 p.m., and patients are encouraged to rest or sleep from this time on.

Newman Regional Health was recognized by Medisolv, a quality monitoring service reporting to The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), with a TOP Performer Badge for Intensive Care VTE Prophylaxis.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) can occur after major general surgery and the staff has diligently applied multiple measures to reduce the opportunity for blood clots to form following surgical procedures. Mitigation steps staff has implemented include the use of graduated compression stockings (GCS), intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) devices, and drug administration.