Neurocritical Care in Turkey

Mehmet Akif Topcuoglu; Ayşe Sağduyu Kocaman; Şerefnur Öztürk; Bijen Nazlıel; Hadiye Şirin

Mehmet Akif Topcuoglu¹, Ayşe Sağduyu Kocaman², Şerefnur Öztürk³, Bijen Nazlıel⁴, Hadiye Şirin²

¹Hacetepe University Neurological Intensive Care Unit
²Ege University Neurological Intensive Care Unit
³Selçuk Universityselçuklu Medical Faculty Neurological Intensive Care Unit
⁴Gazi University Neurological Intensive Care Unit

Keywords: Neurological intensive care unit, patients’ safety, quality of care, specialization, medical collaboration, multidisciplinary approach, prognosis.

Abstract

Since the last 20 years, entry of neurointensive care units (NICU) has provided a significant increase of survival rate and quality of post-ICU life of the patients with life-threatening neurological and neurosurgical catastrophies. Therefore, NICU has become a fundamental part of contemporary third-level hospitals or reference centers. Because extensiveness of specific examination, monitoring and treatment techniques and methods unique to neurology makes impossible to manage critical neurological patients in “General” ICUs instead of NICUs, the number of proponent stating that national health authorities “should” not only establish more and improve NICUs in all reference hospitals, but also (re)organize a transport and referral system to get the patients in need of NICU care to these hospitals is progressively increasing. As mandated by modern critical care paradigm, the proposed plan and strategy can be suggested as a “sine aqua non” for avoiding ethicolegal problems.