Why can't I go directly to ICU?
Although it is not completely prohibited, the intensive care unit does try to avoid visiting, and the management will be much stricter than that of the general ward. There should be two main reasons: 1. The patients in the intensive care unit are in critical condition and may need rapid response and treatment from medical staff at any time. At this time, the existence of irrelevant personnel may interfere with the efficiency of medical behavior and is not convenient for management. 2. Severe patients are prone to infection, so the health requirements of the whole intensive care unit will be higher than that of the general medical environment. If you enter directly from the outside without disinfection and protective measures, or if you don't contact with patients according to the specified requirements, it may cause the spread of pathogens. For these patients, even microorganisms that are harmless to healthy people may cause serious infections (such as Staphylococcus aureus in skin and environment), so strict management is needed. The following are the requirements of hospital infection management guidelines for intensive care units (ICU) in China for visitors: III. Visitor management 1. Try to reduce unnecessary visitors. 2. If the visitor is an isolated patient, it is recommended that the visitor wear clean isolation gown. When visitors wear dirty shoes, or the dust outside ICU is obvious, it is suggested to wear shoe covers or replace special shoes in ICU. 3. When visiting patients with respiratory infection, it is recommended to wear disposable masks. For suspected highly infectious diseases, such as avian influenza and SARS, medical treatment should be avoided. 4. Wash your hands or disinfect your hands with alcohol before visiting patients in the ward and when you leave the ward after visiting. 5. In the process of seeing a doctor, try to avoid touching the surface of objects around the patient. 6. Visitors with suspected or confirmed symptoms of respiratory infection, or infants, should avoid visiting in ICU. 7. At the entrance of ICU, it is suggested to introduce the basic knowledge of hospital infection and its prevention to visitors through publicity columns, brochures and other forms. If the protection and disinfection measures are done adequately, it is hard to say how much harm tourists will bring to patients. However, because tourists will not bring medical help, they generally tend to keep tourists out as much as possible to avoid taking unnecessary risks.