Dr. Akhil Gupta

(Sr. ICU Specialist)(Senior ICU Specialist and General Physician)

Intensive Care Specialist

An intensive care specialist is a medical specialist trained and assessed to be proficient in the comprehensive clinical management of critically ill patients as the leader of a multidisciplinary team. Critically ill patients include patients with life-threatening single and multiple organ system failure, those at risk of clinical deterioration as well as those requiring resuscitation and/or management in an intensive care unit or a high dependency unit.

The intensive care specialist has clinical skills that include the ability to recognise and manage the disturbances associated with severe medical, surgical, obstetric and paediatric illness and to diagnose and treat the conditions that cause them. This usually involves invasive and non-invasive diagnostic techniques, monitoring, and treatment modalities designed to support vital organs.

The intensive care specialist is also an expert in end of life care, the diagnosis of brain death, and care and support of the organ donor.

Intensive care specialists are also frequently involved in the management of deteriorating and seriously ill patients outside the intensive care unit as well as the transport and retrieval of critically ill patients.

To facilitate his or her practice the intensive care specialist has advanced communication skills that enable appropriate and effective interaction with patients, families, other team members and referring clinicians, and that enable collaborative, multidisciplinary practice.

The intensive care specialist continues to learn throughout professional life and acknowledges that involvement in teaching, research, quality improvement and administration are integral to the role.