Intensive Care Unit

Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Opening hours

Visitors are always welcome in the ICU except for the following times:
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
11:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

Due to the critical condition of patients in the MSICU, we request that you verify with the team as to how many visitors can be with the patient at a time, as patients may benefit from lower levels of stimulation.

Visitors are granted access into the unit by using the phone outside the MSICU doors to call the front desk and identify who they are here to visit.

For more details on the visiting procedure, see Visiting the MSICU.

How to reach us

514 340-8222, ext. 25151

You can call for updates at any time, 24-hours a day. If the nurse is busy when you call, they will call you back as soon as possible. You may be given a dedicated phone extension outside the room of your loved one.

Critical care Physician’s Offices
Telephone: 514-340-7500
Fax: 514-340-8133

Where to find us

Pavilion K, 1st floor

  • Enter from the Pavilion K entrance (5767 Rue Légaré)
  • Turn LEFT to access the elevators
  • Take the Pavilion K elevators up to the 1st floor
  • Follow the signs to the Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Overview

The Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit (MSICU) of the Jewish General Hospital is an area in the hospital with a nurse to patient ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 in which advanced technologies (such as mechanical ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy or mechanical cardiac support), specialized treatments (such as vasopressor support) and intensive monitoring are used to care for critically ill patients. 

The MSICU is a ‘closed’ unit, which means that patients admitted to the MSICU are under the direct care of a physician who is credentialed in Critical Care Medicine (“Intensivist”).  Care in the MSICU is provided by nurses and registered respiratory therapists with specialized training and expertise in the care of critically ill patients.  In addition, there is a multidisciplinary team composed of nutrition therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists with specialized expertise in this area. 

The MSICU has a capacity to manage 28 patients at a time, in private rooms, and admits approximately 1000 patients annually.

The MSICU is a tertiary care medical-surgical ICU able to manage patients with a range of complex critical care needs. Common reasons to require admission to the MSICU include sepsis, respiratory failure, and post-operatively from cardiac surgery. The JGH MSICU has particular expertise in the critical care management of patients recovering from cardiac surgery, respiratory failure including Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), oncologic and obstetrical critical care, and weaning from mechanical ventilation.

The Division of Critical Care also provides critical care outside the walls of the MSICU. The ICU consultation service evaluates all critically ill patients outside of the MSICU, namely, in the emergency room and on the hospital wards. This team of physicians is responsible for the initial evaluation of a patient who may need the MSICU, performs various procedures for patients outside the MSICU, and can provide follow up of patients discharged from the ICU.

MSICU and Division of Critical Care Director

Dr. Paul Warshawsky MD, FRCPC

MSICU Head Nurse

Susan Cameron BN, CNCC(C)

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