Click to learn what the machines and tubes do around the bed
...and some more that aren't seen in this picture
Non-invasive ventilation (NIV)
- This is an intervention more advanced than an oxygen mask but less so than being on a ventilator via a breathing tube. Patients on this support have to be able to breathe themselves.
- A mask is strapped on tight and air/oxygen is delivered with pressure to the patient’s lungs.
- It is hard to talk (and be heard) whilst having this therapy. It can also dry out the mouth and so nurses will give the patient breaks from time to time if safe to do so.
- These machines are similar but more powerful than the CPAP machines used at home by people with obstructive sleep apnoea.
Indwelling urinary catheter (IDC)
- Almost all patients in Intensive Care need a tube placed into the bladder through the urethra (where urine normally exits the body).
- These drain urine while the patient is too unwell to urinate themselves, and allow us to monitor how much urine is being made.
Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP)
- An intra-aortic balloon pump is a special form of heart support that inflates and deflates a balloon placed through the groin all the way up to the aorta near the heart, to help support its function.
- These are usually placed around the time of a coronary angiogram or coronary artery bypass surgery.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)
- Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a very high level of heart and/or lung bypass that helps do the job of those organs while they recover.
- Large tubes are placed into the veins and/or arteries (usually in the groin) to suck blood out of the patient, run it through a pump and gas exchange machine, and then return it back to the patient’s circulation.
- Patients on these machines have failed many other therapies and are the sickest in the Intensive Care.
Drains
- Patients may have different drains either hanging off the side of the bed or sitting on the floor next to it.
- These drains can be placed in/around the brain, lung, heart, limbs or into the abdomen. This will depend on what condition the patient has and what operations they have had done.
Learn more
Visit our page ‘What we treat’ showing an interactive diagram of the human body. You can learn about what conditions we treat and general information on how we do that, organ by organ.