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Meet ICU Nurse Manager William Shaughnessy
Many people I meet are surprised to learn that VA health care facilities have
intensive care units. The reality is that VA facilities can be nursing homes,
tertiary care referral centers, behavioral health and psychiatry facilities,
outpatient clinics and everything in between! The VA is a first rate system
using the newest equipment and latest technology. I came to the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System in 1989 to work in the Medical
Intensive Care Unit. What I’ve discovered is a brand of critical care nursing
that equals and many times surpasses the care provided in other large teaching
hospitals in Pittsburgh. The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has active programs
in open-heart surgery, liver transplantation, and, now, kidney transplantation.
Our patients do as well as, and often better than, patients receiving care in
the large teaching institutions elsewhere in the area do. There are also active programs in pulmonary and intensive care medicine
as well as interventional cardiology. VA Pittsburgh utilizes the latest in
technology with regard to invasive monitoring, and medical record documentation.
We have a variety of intensive care settings that include Medical Intensive
Care, Surgical Intensive Care, Coronary Care, and a Stepdown Unit. Each of these
settings fall within the Critical Care Service Line of VA Pittsburgh. Ongoing
education and inservice are provided to all critical care staff as well as
opportunities for higher education, research, and advancement. In
an era of healthcare downsizing and increased nurse to patient ratios, the VA
Pittsburgh Healthcare System maintains traditional ICU and stepdown ratios.
Our
goal is provide critical care that is second to none.
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