There are many differences between the intensive care a patient received yesterday and
the intensive care he receives today. For example, thirty years ago a patient’s intensive care
consisted of putting him in a single room, giving him oxygen and fluids, taking his vital signs
frequently, and giving him medication as ordered. Nurses could not spend much time with a
patient, even a critically ill patient, because nurses were so few. Since there was a shortage of
nurses in those days, many nurses felt the next time they went to a patient’s room he would be
dead. Many times he was. However, there has been a revolution since then. The approach to
intensive care today is much different. It consists of an entire unit designed especially to care for
the critically ill patient. A staff of highly trained nurses and skilled technicians are in constant
contact with the patient, taking care of his every need and monitoring any change in his
condition, however slight. In addition to its staff, the intensive care unit is equipped with
sensitive life-saving machines. The beeping noise of the heart monitor and the red and green
flashing lights of the suction machine are only a few of the reassuring sights and sounds in this
world of timelessness and routine. Thanks to the staff, machines, and routine,