Department of Critical Care Medicine, BIRDEM Hospital

Critical Care Medicine is the direct delivery of medical care by a physician to a critically ill or critically injured patient. Critical illness or injury acutely impairs one or more vital organ systems such that there is a high probability of imminent or life-threatening deterioration in the patient’s condition. Care of these patients can take place anywhere in the inpatient hospital setting, although it typically occurs in the ICU. Critical care involves highly complex decision making to assess, manipulate, and support vital system functions, to treat single or multiple vital organ system failure, and/or to prevent further life-threatening deterioration of the patient’s condition.

Intensive care is a known but neglected concept in Bangladesh. The first ICU in Bangladesh was established in NICVD in 1980. Since then the numbers of ICUs have been increasing steadily. BIRDEM, a well-known & tertiary care hospital, situated in Shahbag, Dhaka has its ICU from 1989. Till 1995, it was an open unit i.e. primary doctors who choose to admit patients, generally made management decisions leaving the responsibility of managing ventilators & doing procedures to the Intensivists. In 1996, the name was changed from ‘Intensive Care Unit’ to ‘Department of Critical Care Medicine’ & it became a closed one i.e. the Intensivists take on the senior role & patients have been admitted under the service of Critical Care Medicine (CCM).

At the beginning, the number of beds in BIRDEM ICU was only 6. Total number of beds in BIRDEM hospital is 593. Not only indoor patients but also out patients from different hospitals & ICUs are admitted in BIRDEM ICU. In December 2004, the number of beds increased to 10.

The Critical Care Medicine Department at BIRDEM Hospital offers 2 year training for MD(critical care medicine) student. The program is designed to provide clinical training in the care of patients with multisystem organ dysfunction and to produce independent clinical investigators through advanced training.