Your relative/loved one is cared for by a specialized team (doctors, nurses, nursing aids) and some specific and urgent procedures may be needed at his or her arrival.

This step may take time and you will have to wait in the waiting room, this may be a difficult time but be assured we will be with you as soon as we possibly can.

You will have a first interview with the ICU team as soon as possible to answer all your questions.

We will explain the situation of your loved one, the treatment we began as well as the organisation of the unit.

Your loved one may need a lot of machines to help us treat him or her and watch his or her situation closely. Those machines have noisy alarms that may be unsettling and frightening for you. Nevertheless, be assured that everytime an alarm is triggered, the ICU team will analyze itimmediately and take actions if necessary.
Those alarms may ring inside the room but are also transmitted outside the room so wherever the healthcare professionals are, they have access to the information they need to act quickly if needed.

Depending on his or her health state, your loved one consciousness may bealtered: discomfort, drowsiness, aggressivity, agitation, coma…

To ensure his or her safety, we may need to restraint his or her hands. This is meant to avoid any disconnection of vital materials.

His or her appearance may change, this must not stop you from approaching, talking to him/her, taking his/her hands and touching him.

Visits of children in our ICU are authorized but they must be thoughtfully organised.

The child must want to visit the patient and not be forced.

The visit must be prepared by the team: simple explanations will be given before going inside the unit, the child will be accompanied in the room by his parent or caregiver and a member of the team, it will also be very important to talk to him after the visit so he’s not left alone with images and feelings that are too difficult to handle alone.

You can also bring drawings of your children to the patient. We will make sure to hung them in the room in a place the patient can see.

Patients in intensive care are particularly fragile and compliance with hygiene measures is fundamental to avoid the risk of infection. During the visits, you will be asked to:

• Always wash hands at the entrance and exit of the chamber to avoid the risk of spreading germs. Dispensers of hydro-alcoholic solution are at your disposal at the entrance of the room and in the corridors
• Avoid visits by anyone with a contagious disease
• Do not sit on the bed
• Do not bring flowers or plants
• In some cases, staff may need to ask you wearing a mask or a blouse.

Intensive care often justifies naked patients; however, we are careful to preserve their dignity.

Trusted person can :

• accompany you in your steps and assist you during your medical appointments,
• and be consulted by doctors to report on your wishes if you are not able to be consulted yourself.

If your state of health no longer allows you to give your opinion or to share your decisions, the doctor or the medical team consults in priority the trusted person.

His opinion guides the doctor to make his decisions. It must therefore know your wishes and express them when it is called upon to do so.

Advance directives can also be entrusted to him.

Warning: The trusted person should not be confused with the person to be notified, who is alerted by phone if your condition worsens.

Anyone around you (parent, close friend, doctor) who you trust and who agrees to play this role can be designated as a trusted person.

You can designate a trusted person at any time.

This appointment is made in writing, during your admission or during your hospitalization, on the forms that will be given to you for this purpose. Failing this, this designation can be made on free paper.

The designation can be canceled or changed at any time.

For reasons of safety, hygiene and organization, we allow very few personal effects in the unit.

The regulation of the hospital requires us to deposit in the safe all the valuables: jewelry, credit card, checkbook, cash money.

If the ICU stay should last more than a few day, you are very welcome to personalize the room of your loved one : pictures, drawings, …

CD players, radios, tablets and mobile phones are licensed under your responsibility.

Physiotherapy is an important part of intensive care as prolonged bed rest and mechanical ventilation cause important muscle waste and impact our patient motricity and respiratory function. It can be used for sedated or comatose patients as well as for awake & conscious patients.

Early rehabilitation is medically prescribed and helps maintain some muscle strength and prepare post-ICU recovery. For sedated patients, rehabilitation can involve recumbent passive bike sessions and everyday joints mobilization by the team physiotherapists to limite muscle waste and joints stiffness. Later and as soon as the patient is able to participate in his recovery, the rehabilitation program can involve chair installation, verticalization, walking sessions or sitting bike sessions.

Your loved one may also benefit from respiratory physiotherapy, to help him breath, clear his pulmonary secretions and optimize lung volumes.

Our unit has two physiotherapists available on Monday to Saturday and on public holidays.