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

To understand how to keep animals safe and comfortable, IndyStar spoke with Dr. Aimee Brooks, an emergency critical care specialist at Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, for advice. —Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 19 June 2024

The technology marks a fundamental change in the way diseases are diagnosed, said Erica Sanford Kobayashi, a pediatric critical care doctor at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California. —Mark Johnson, Washington Post, 17 June 2024

In many hospitals and medical facilities today, a nonscientific assessment of fetal ‘viability’ is used to withhold critical care. —John Oertle, National Review, 16 June 2024

Travis Melin, an anesthesiologist and critical care doctor from Portland, Oregon, was stationed at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital as part of the CADUS international disaster response team. —Chantal Da Silva, NBC News, 15 June 2024

Austin was admitted to Walter Reed’s critical care unit for supportive care and close monitoring at around 2 p.m. Sunday. —Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 12 Feb. 2024

In the cases managed in a health care facility, 4% were admitted to a critical care unit. —Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 21 Jan. 2024

Those ultrafine particles can also get deep inside the lungs, says Dr. Barbara Mann, an associate professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine and at Mount Sinai in New York City. —Linda Carroll, TIME, 30 May 2024

Additionally, Jenna Wheeler, MD, a pediatric critical care physician with Orlando Health, says death from excessive caffeine consumption is rare but possible. —Beth Ann Mayer, Parents, 24 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

critical care

noun

: intensive care