critical care

noun

1

: the monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients : intensive care

Critical care involves the use of life-sustaining, high-technology medicine catering to a patient population that extends to both extremes of age. In adult ICUs, the average age is increasing and is now commonly well over 60 years.

—Simon Finfer and Jean-Louis Vincent

2

: a designated area of a hospital providing critical care : intensive care unit

The death toll rose from six to at least 12, with scores of people needing hospital treatment and some in critical care.

—Heather Brooke

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

critical-care nursing

a critical-care bed

see also critical care unit

Examples of critical care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For many polio patients, the iron lung was a bridge for survival, says Dr. Daniel Salerno, a pulmonary and critical care physician, and faculty at Temple University. —Caroline C. Boyle, USA TODAY, 18 Jan. 2025

The clip was posted by an emergency and critical care vet assistant, who is known on TikTok as @hachpoul. —Andy Biggs, Newsweek, 25 Dec. 2024

Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, became the first American not involved in a clinical trial to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was approved for use. —The Arizona Republic, 14 Dec. 2024

The big picture: The reaction to Brian Thompson's killing — and the veneration by some of suspect Luigi Mangione — has revealed a deep distrust of the health insurance industry and its treatment of patients in need of critical care. —April Rubin, Axios, 27 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

critical care

noun

: intensive care