ICU Admissions

(Summary of 12/02 memo from 11/13/02 meeting of medicine/emergency medicine)
* DEM attending calls ICU and medicine (or other department attending), and DEM attending or resident contacts appropriate resudent, the ICU resident and attending's responsibilities begin once patient physically arrives in one of the ICUs. 
* TICU ("ICU") and HVC ("CCU") are medicine teaching units: all patients in them are on the teaching service and covered by the medicine ICU and CCU residents, and ICU or CCU resident will do admission note and orders
* Burn Unit and PACU ("Recovery Room") are not medicine teaching units
   - patients admitted there are "non-teaching";
   - care provided by the admitting attending physicians and consultants, not by residents
   - PRN Physician available to take care of immediate problems if admitting attending or consultant not physically available
   - PRN Physician does not do admission note or admitting orders, that's the job of the admitting attending and consultants
   - if admitting attending is on medicine teaching faculty, the medical admitter and the floor resident for that medicine attending will do initial assessment, and orders; and will continue to care for the patient until the PRN Physicians switch shifts, at which time the resident will sign the ptient out to the PRN Physician.
   - if admiting physician is nonteaching medicine atttending, responsibility for initial assessment, admission note, and orders are the responsibility of the admitting attending or the admitting attending's intensivist consultant