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intensive care unit

intensive care unit

18 3.1
A hospital area where very sick patients get constant care and monitoring
  • noun
  • /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv kɛr ˈjunɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : unidad de cuidados intensivos
  • One person was admitted to the intensive care unit, and shock subsequently developed.
  • intensive care unit (ICU)
  • neonatal intensive care unit
  • pediatric intensive care unit

And that causes huge burden on the intensive care units across the country.

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Examples

  • What they're saying is that the Princess is in the intensive care unit of a southeast Paris hospital.

  • Ryan, a 2-year-old boy, is admitted to the intensive care unit (PICU) with hematemesis, diarrhea, and hypotension.

    Academic text (2007)
  • I see no reason not to transfer her to the intensive care unit.

  • After one and a half hours of travel, the patient was presented to another intensive care unit.

    Academic text (2007)
  • The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit for a few days and then released.

    Academic text (2006)
  • They would get him into the intensive care unit in hospital as quickly as possible.

  • In the intensive care unit, six doctors and 34 nurses are on duty for him.

  • Julie works in the intensive care unit at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, which provided her family with health insurance.

  • I walked alongside the man's stretcher as he was moved upstairs to the intensive care unit.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit for immediate treatment after the accident.

Synonyms

ICU
vsintensive care unit
  • Specialized
106 3.7

A hospital area where very sick people get constant medical care

is the full written name rather than the abbreviated label
intensive care
vsintensive care unit
  • Specialized
50 3.0

A hospital unit where very ill people get constant monitoring and treatment

refers to the hospital department where that treatment and monitoring are provided

How Intensive

intensive care unit
  • Specialized
18 3.1
stepdown
1 4.2
ward
140 3.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

intensive + care + unit

The overall meaning is directly compositional: 'intensive' (high-level/urgent), 'care' (medical treatment or supervision), and 'unit' (a department or section) combine to denote a hospital department providing intensive medical care. This is a common, cross-linguistic noun phrase pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Intensive care unit comes from the idea that intensive means very strong, care means close help, and unit means a separate room or team where staff work together. So, it means 'a special area in a hospital' where very sick people are watched closely all the time.