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Department for Internal Medicine II
Cardiology, Pneumology, Internal Intensive Care Medicine

Internal Medicine II

Information for patients and relatives

We know that our patients are exposed to great physical and psychological stress due to the severity of their illness. Their relatives are also going through a difficult time. We are here for you and your questions. You can get information about your sick relative from the doctors and nurses on the ward. Please understand that there may be delays as patient care takes priority.

Visits

Out of respect for our patients, we ask that only the closest relatives come to visit - only they can provide information. Due to morning rounds and patient care, visits should not take place before 11.00 am. We also ask that you respect the sleep of our patients, so visits after 8:00 pm are not possible.

Visiting times: 11:00 am to 8:00 pm

Monitoring

All patients in an intensive care unit are suffering from serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses or may develop complications that are life-threatening. Continuous monitoring of vital signs is therefore essential.

For this reason, it is necessary to attach some cables to the patient in order to record these important functions on a monitor. Each monitor is also connected to a central monitoring system from which each bed position can be viewed.

Among other things, we continuously record (curves from top to bottom)

  • the actions of the heart (green),
  • blood pressure (red),
  • the level of oxygen in the blood (white),
  • the number of breaths (blue) and
  • occasionally the body temperature

Treatment

  • Respiratory support and artificial respiration

    Many patients with serious illnesses are no longer able to take in enough oxygen for the body on their own. It is then necessary to support their breathing or give them artificial respiration.

    Supporting breathing

    If a patient's breathing is impaired, we support it with mask ventilation (non-invasive ventilation). The patient is given a face or nose mask to relieve the patient's own breathing muscles and improve the depth of breathing. They remain awake and responsive. This is sometimes used when the patient is still too weak to breathe completely on their own after a long period of artificial ventilation.

    Artificial respiration

    During artificial respiration, a tube is inserted through the mouth into the windpipe. A machine takes over the breathing function. Oxygen can be administered as needed, and the number and depth of breaths can be set precisely. As it is difficult for an awake patient to tolerate a tube in the windpipe, the patient is put into a deep sleep with medication. As lung function improves, controlled ventilation is switched to assisted respiration until the patient can breathe on their own again.

  • Kidney replacement procedure

    In some serious illnesses, the kidneys are so damaged that they can no longer function properly. As the patient is no longer able to remove waste products and excess fluid from the body, artificial kidney replacement must be used. Blood is pumped through thin tubes (catheters) that are inserted into a large vein in the neck or groin. A filter removes the toxic waste products and excess fluid, and the cleaned blood is returned to the body.

    In most cases, the kidneys' own function is restored as the healing process progresses. In some cases, permanent blood cleansing (dialysis) may be needed.

  • Sedation & pain management

    In the intensive care unit, it is often necessary to provide pain management adapted to the situation. Many patients are in pain because of their illness or because of the measures that need to be taken to support their vital functions. For this reason, many patients are given painkillers via an intravenous line, which is individually dosed.

    In addition, artificial deep sleep (sedation) sometimes needs to be induced, for example during surgery or mechanical ventilation. This is also achieved by drugs that are continuously administered into the bloodstream. The depth of artificial sleep can be controlled according to certain characteristics. Although the patient may appear to be unresponsive to visits, sensations and sounds may still reach the patient's consciousness.

  • Positioning management

    Patients in intensive care need to be turned regularly to minimise the risk of bedsores. This is why we use special mattresses.

    In some conditions, such as severe respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), where fluid accumulates in the lungs, special positioning has proved effective. We often turn these patients on their stomachs. This allows better ventilation of the dependent parts of the lungs, where the fluid tends to accumulate.

    In rare cases where prone positioning is not possible, we place patients in a special rotation bed, which can have a similar effect.