critical care

noun

1

: the monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients : intensive care

Critical care involves the use of life-sustaining, high-technology medicine catering to a patient population that extends to both extremes of age. In adult ICUs, the average age is increasing and is now commonly well over 60 years.

—Simon Finfer and Jean-Louis Vincent

2

: a designated area of a hospital providing critical care : intensive care unit

The death toll rose from six to at least 12, with scores of people needing hospital treatment and some in critical care.

—Heather Brooke

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

critical-care nursing

a critical-care bed

see also critical care unit

Examples of critical care in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These alleviate the administrative burden by answering patients' preadmission questions to provide support throughout their healthcare journey and allow medical staff to focus on critical care tasks. —Steve McDowell, Forbes, 16 Dec. 2024

The emergency room is equipped with critical care services and personnel that an urgent care clinic doesn’t have, including specialists in cardiology, neurology and orthopedics, according to the same source. —Erica Lamberg, Fox News, 26 Oct. 2024

In addition, a teenager in British Columbia was infected more than two weeks ago and has been in critical care since. —Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2024

Freeman thanked the work of Dr. Jason Knight, CHOC’s division chief for pediatric critical care. —Fabian Ardaya, The Athletic, 5 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

critical care

noun

: intensive care