Critical Care Anesthesia

The physicians within our Division of Critical Care Medicine are all highly trained anesthesiologists dedicated to providing superb care to Medical University of South Carolina’s critically ill patients. All of our critical care faculty are Board-Certified in both Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine. The Division of Critical Care cares for patients in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) and Medical/Surgical Intensive Care Unit (MSICU). The Medical University of South Carolina is a major tertiary referral center in the southeast United States for complex gastrointestinal medical and surgical patients and complex cancer patients; and the 18-bed MSICU admits approximately 1,000 of the sickest of these complex patients per year.

Patients admitted to the ICU commonly require

Management of the simultaneous multiorgan failure of severe sepsis syndrome.
Respiratory support (Ventilator management or BiPAP) for:
- Hypoxic respiratory failure including Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), often as part of sepsis syndrome
- Postoperative ventilator weaning
- Severe pneumonia and COPD exacerbations
- Pulmonary edema
- Airway protection
Cardiac support for heart failure (chemical inotropy and/or mechanical devices)
Blood pressure control to treat severe hypotension or hypertension.
Neurologic protection.
Continuous dialysis for acute renal failure.
Blood product, fluid, and electrolyte replacement.
Sedation, analgesia, and delirium management.
Wound, feeding tube, and drainage tube management.
Invasive access for medication/nutrition delivery.
Intensive/invasive hemodynamic monitoring.

Critical care anesthesiologists are particularly trained and experienced in the care of high risk perioperative patients; our specific skills and knowledge of physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology uniquely qualify anesthesiologists to serve perioperative and critically ill patients well. Our ICUs practice a multidisciplinary approach to critical care medicine involving nursing staff, pharmacy, respiratory therapy and dieticians in daily rounds. There is close collaboration between our ICU teams and the associated surgical/medical services. In such a complex environment, our critical care anesthesiologists serve a central role in optimizing care during one of the most the most expensive, technologically-advanced and resource-intensive times of patients’ hospital care.

The CVICU is collaboration between Critical care anesthesiologists, Cardiothoracic surgeons and Cardiologists. The team of critical care attendings, fellows, residents and advanced practice providers provides care to patients requiring left ventricular devices (LVADs), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), heart transplants and complex cardiac surgery, thoracic surgery, and vascular surgery.

In the MSICU, our critical care attendings, fellows, residents and advanced practice providers provide critical care for patients requiring major abdominal surgeries including pancreatectomies, pancreatic islet cell transplants, surgical oncology procedures, and complicated gastric bypass surgeries as well as medical gastrointestinal illnesses and hematology/oncology patients.

The Division of Critical Care has been granted four ACGME-accredited Anesthesiology Critical Care Fellowship positions. The Division is also responsible for the education of anesthesiology and emergency medicine residents and medical students who rotate through both the CVICU and MSICU. See our Anesthesiology Critical Care Fellowship Program.