intensive care

Definition of intensive care

1 : the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services Many of the sickest patients need intensive care, even to the point of being connected to a mechanical respirator.— Lawrence K. Altman

2 : a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit heart patients in intensive care … short of breath and feverish, doctors isolated him in intensive care.— Elisabeth Rosenthal —often hyphenated when used before another nounan intensive-care nurse

Examples of intensive care in a Sentence

Her condition will require intensive care.

Recent Examples on the Web Since November 2014, Cherney, 32, has worked as a nurse on floor 8D of University Hospital, a moderate care unit that serves patients who are too sick for general care but not quite sick enough for an intensive care unit. — Elliott Woods, Wired, "‘You’re Not Alone’: How One Nurse Is Confronting the Pandemic," 17 May 2020 Of those who are still sick, 70 are in the hospital, with 34 in intensive care and 25 on ventilators to help them breathe. — Alia Malik, ExpressNews.com, "Three new novel coronavirus deaths reported in San Antonio; cases grow to 2,120," 15 May 2020 About 36 hours after receiving an infusion, as Yukhayev was being treated in intensive care, his symptoms began to improve. — Liz Szabo, azcentral, "Chasing the elusive dream of a COVID cure," 15 May 2020 Smaller nations such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg haven't relied on R for disease control but focused on multiple daily indicators such as number of new infections, intensive care unit occupation, deaths and hospital admissions. — Bojan Pancevski, WSJ, "As Coronavirus Cases Fall, Countries Struggle to Measure When It’s Safe to Reopen," 13 May 2020 Many intensive care hospital units are full, while cemeteries are overwhelmed with bodies. — Fox News, "Some Brazilian cities suddenly lock down as coronavirus cases surge," 13 May 2020 But now that the COVID-19 pandemic is here, there are also new types of medical fundraisers—for everything from masks and intensive care equipment to food and coffee for frontline hospital staff. — Brooke Borel/undark, Popular Science, "Small doctors’ offices are turning to GoFundMe to survive the pandemic," 13 May 2020 Of that 5 percent that will need not just hospitalization, but intensive care medicine, of that anywhere from 1.5 percent to 1 percent will die, or basically somewhere in the neighborhood of 800,000 to about 1.6 million people. — CBS News, "Transcript: Dr. Michael Osterholm speaks with Michael Morell on "Intelligence Matters"," 13 May 2020 The study was conducted by members of an international collaborative of more than 300 pediatric intensive care and infectious disease specialists. — Pam Belluck, BostonGlobe.com, "Study offers details of US children severely sickened by coronavirus," 11 May 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'intensive care.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about intensive care

Dictionary Entries near intensive care

intensity of magnetization

intensity of radiation

intensive proposition

Statistics for intensive care

Last Updated

20 May 2020

Cite this Entry

“Intensive care.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intensive%20care. Accessed 3 Jun. 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for intensive care

intensive care

noun

English Language Learners Definition of intensive care

: a section of a hospital where special medical equipment and services are provided for patients who are seriously injured or ill also : the medical care provided in such a section

See the full definition for intensive care in the English Language Learners Dictionary

intensive care

noun

Kids Definition of intensive care

: constant observation and treatment of very ill patients in a special unit of a hospital

intensive care

noun

Medical Definition of intensive care

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : the continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services She required intensive care and survived without sequelae. — The Journal of the American Medical Association

2 : a designated area in a hospital providing intensive care : intensive care unit heart patients in intensive care a patient isolated in intensive care He spent several days in intensive care before recovering from the overdose.— Jerome Groopman

intensive care

adjective

variants: also intensive-care

Medical Definition of intensive care (Entry 2 of 2)

: providing or concerned with continuous monitoring and treatment of critically ill or injured patients using special medical facilities, equipment, and services intensive care medicine an intensive-care nurse also : receiving medical care in an intensive care unit intensive care patients — compare acute care, chronic care

Keep scrolling for more