NZNO nurses, healthcare assistants and some midwives plan to strike from 9am on Wednesday 30 July to 9am on Thursday 31 July. Patient safety is our priority and our hospitals will remain open. Continue to attend all appointments unless we have contacted you directly to reschedule.
The CVICU and CVHDU are a specialised department that provides intensive care and high dependency level care for adult patients with conditions related to heart, lung and blood vessel surgery.
The Cardiothoracic and Vascular Intensive Care and High Dependency Units (CVICU and CVHDU) are at Building 32, Level 4,
Auckland City Hospital.
Our service is divided into 2 areas:
We also have the National Centre for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). This is a form of life support not available anywhere else in Aotearoa New Zealand. ECMO performs the critical job of the heart and lungs while patients receive the treatment they need to live.
Our team includes expert doctors, specialised nurses, health psychologists, physiotherapists, pharmacists and more. The team is there to support your wellbeing and recovery.
Our Māori health teams, including a Nurse Specialist Māori Health, support patients and their whānau along their journey. Through Te Ao Māori values and approaches, we can offer the best possible care that supports and strengthens all aspects of wellbeing.
Patients in intensive care are usually critically unwell and often require support for one or more of their vital organs such as their heart, lungs or kidneys.
Some patients are kept under close monitoring, such as after heart and lung surgery. Critical care nurses look after one or, at the most, two patients at a time. Doctors are always present in the unit, day and night.
Being in intensive care is often a very confusing and frightening experience for patients and their whānau. We aim to deliver care that respects the needs, values and preferences of our patients and their loved ones.
An important part of our work is to try and help patients and whānau understand what is happening throughout their illness.
