Department of Intensive Care Medicine

Ryohei Serita

Introduction

The Department of Intensive Care Medicine came into existence on November 1, 2016. The mission of our department is to provide safe and efficient care for postoperative patients and critically ill patients. In step with the aging of the population, patients with cancer have been at higher risk of complications at the pretreatment evaluation. Therefore, high-quality care is needed to ensure efficient procedures. We believe that our department plays a pivotal role in safe and efficient care for patients within the National Cancer Center Hospital East. We are working with the aim of further enhancing such care.

The Team and What We Do

Our clinical focus is to manage the eight-bed intensive care unit (ICU) and provide specialist advice to the attending physicians for all critically ill patients. Since the facility standards were met, intensive care addition had been also calculated from Sep 2019. The number of patients admitted to the ICU was 1,599 in 2021, almost the same as the previous year. The reasons for ICU admission are shown in Table 1. The utilization rate of ICU beds was 93% throughout of this year.

Table 1. Main Reasons for ICU Admission (Apr 2021 - Mar 2022)

Research activities

Our research interests include magnesium ion homeostasis of cancer patients. Several studies are in the planning stage.

Clinical trials

Currently, the department has no clinical trials.

Future prospects

The objective of our department is to establish an ICU that has a functional role in offering highly intensive care for the cancer patients. We will work to further define and refine what we do in providing high-quality care.