Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
A parking lot is available across from the Medical Office Building and accessible via Medical Drive off of 38th Street. There are several options on campus for food including the cafeteria, Freshii Cafe, the gift shop for snacks or the local food trucks during the daytime. We do not allow visitors to eat in patient rooms as a courtesy to our patients. Visitors are welcome to dine in the cafeteria or in the visitor waiting room directly outside of the MICU.
What to Expect Upon Admission
Patients will be admitted to one of our ICU rooms. Each room is private to provide the patient with the right care and their own healing space.
Room Amenities:
- Private room
- Bed and bathroom
- Guest chair for caregiver or family member
The MICU care team will complete the patient examinations to understand your medical condition and create an individual plan based on your needs. When admitted to the MICU, the care team will often contact your family or caregivers to obtain additional information.
Depending on the patient's condition and care preferences, a patient may receive life support. Examples include a ventilator to help with breathing and dialysis to support the kidneys. If these interventions are not consistent with a patient's goals and preferences, please let us know. Our primary goal is to provide the right care for the patient. In such instances, we will communicate with your primary contact to discuss your condition, diagnosis and treatment plan.
Caregivers are encouraged to ask about the equipment and noises and alarms in the room if they have any questions. Guests are also encouraged to ask about sounds or alarms they may hear. For the safety of the patient we ask that you not operate or touch any of the devices or equipment.
What to Expect When Visiting Your Loved One
To enter the MICU, pick up the phone, state the name of the person you are visiting and wait to be buzzed in. The doors will open when they sense you are standing at a safe distance. During the day you will be greeted at the front desk by a staff member who will direct you to the patient's room.
Family are invited to join our daily, interdisciplinary patient and family centered rounds, which are conducted at the bedside between 9 am and 12:30 pm. Please reference our Frequently Asked Questions about the MICU for more information.
To protect all patients, the MICU team cares for individuals in separate, private rooms. The care teams ask that all visitors follow posted isolation procedures, such as wearing a gown and gloves, if needed. As a visitor, always perform hand hygiene on the way into the patient's room and when leaving the room regardless of isolation status. You can either use the alcohol-based foam/gel located directly outside the patient room or was your hands at a nearby sink. This helps to minimize the transmission of infections to keep patients safe. The medical care team will use the same approach to MICU hand hygiene.
As a visitor if you are feeling ill with a cold we ask that you stay at home instead of visiting the MICU.
What to Expect Upon Discharge from the MICU
During ICU discharge the MICU care team will coordinate your care plan with our colleagues who will care for you as you continue your recovery in the hospital or with your out-patient providers if you are able to leave the hospital from the MICU.
To ease the transition out of the ICU and into the next phase of your recovery, we will prepare you for travel to the next unit. We will notify each patient of the transfer plans, the new location and the new patient room number. For those patients being discharged directly from the ICU, either to a long-term acute care hospital, skilled care facility, or home, we will ensure that your providers know your hospital course, medication list, and have our contact information should questions arise.
The road to recovery for survivors of critical illness is often long and difficult. At the time of ICU discharge, and even at the time of hospital discharge, survivors of critical illness experience real and profound impairments. In time, many of these symptoms will improve, and can be managed and rehabilitated. As a survivor of critical illness, these limitations in a patient's functional abilities may be new, or limitations may be worse.
Critical Care Survivors Support
Problems with thinking, depression, anxiety, and weakness are common in survivors of critical illness. Anxiety and depression are also common for loved ones or caregivers. If you or your loved one experiences any of these symptoms, you are not alone. These symptoms are so common they have a name: post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) and post-intensive care syndrome - family (PICS-F).
Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) may affect patients after they leave the MICU. The PPMC MICU staff recognizes these hardships, and designed patient care, beginning in the ICU and continuing after the hospital discharge, to minimize the impact of PICS and PICS-F. With greater support and attention to the patient's needs, we want to facilitate a meaningful and enduring recovery for patients and their families.