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Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit

The Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit is a 24-bed critical care unit that cares for disease states in the cardiac, thoracic, and vascular surgery patient population. We care for some of the most complex patients in the state that include heart transplantation, lung transplantation, ventricular assist device, aortic repair, complex vascular procedures, complicated bypass and valve surgeries, and complex thoracic surgery. The CVICU also cares for adult VA and VV ECMO. The Intensivists provide 24-hour coverage for the critical care patients and have a team of residents and advanced practice providers. The care of critically ill patients requires a multidisciplinary approach and includes pharmacists, dietitians, physical therapists, speech therapists and social workers. There has been a steady increase in surgical patients being cared for in the CVICU as technology has advanced and more and more patients within the State require complex surgical care.

Jonathan Simmons, DO
#1
CVICU in IA
24hrs
intensivist coverage
24
bed unit
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Education

The CVICU is one of the main critical care training environments for the anesthesia residents. There are also anesthesia critical care and surgery critical care fellows that train in the CVICU. The Department of Anesthesia offers an ACGME-accredited critical care medicine fellowship.

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Research

The faculty of the Division of Critical Care are involved in multiple research projects, many that are externally funded.  Some notable examples are:

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Latest Publications

Dr. Nicholas Mohr conducts research in sepsis, emergency department (ED) management of critical illness, and regionalized critical care services. He is conducting clinical outcomes studies of ED-based sedation for mechanically ventilated patients in the ED. Dr. Mohr is the Director of the Rural Telehealth Research Center, and he has conducted studies measuring the effectiveness of tele-sepsis interventions in rural EDs (TELEVISED study). He is also collaborating with a team to develop prehospital guidance for ambulance crews to select hospitals best equipped to care for them (MAP-STROKE study).

Dr. David Kaczka focuses on quantifying mechanical heterogeneity in diseases of the respiratory system, such as asthma, COPD, and acute lung injury. His lab relies on several advanced engineering techniques to quantify mechanical heterogeneity in the lung and optimize ventilation distribution. These techniques include forced oscillatory measurements of respiratory impedance, CT image processing, and computational modeling of cardiopulmonary interactions.  Dr. Kaczka has specific interests in the design and function of mechanical ventilators, patient monitoring, and functional lung imaging.  His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, as well as private industry.