Inpatient Hospital Departments

Inpatient care departments are typically refered to as units or floors; for example, the orthopedic unit or ortho floor. Larger hospitals typically have a mix of inpatient units, including critical care units, step-down units, medical units, and surgical units. All of these units will require clerical support from an HUC; however, the duties and hours associated with each unit may vary.

Below is a list and explanation of possible units the HUC may encounter, but it is not exhaustive. The list also includes examples of common pathologies and conditions that would cause a patient to be admitted to these units; however, sometimes, due to bed shortages, there may be patients with other reasons for admission present on any given unit.

Critical Care Units

Coronary Care Unit (CCU): Provides specialized, intensive treatment for patients with complex or unstable medical cardiac issues, such as unstable angina or myocardial infarctions. In smaller hospitals, the CCU may be combined with the ICU.

Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU): Provides specialized, intensive treatment for patients who have had complex cardiac surgery, such as CABG.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU): Provides specialized, intensive treatment for patients who require close monitoring and advanced life support due to severe injuries or critical illness, such as those with severe infections or trauma injuries.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU): Provides specialized, intensive treatment for critically ill newborns who require monitoring and advanced life support, often premature babies or those with birth complications.

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU): Provides specialized, intensive treatment for children and adolescents who are critically ill. Smaller facilities may have a PICU only, where infants are also treated.

Step-Down Units

Step-Down Units (surgical/cardiac): These units provide intermediate care between that of an ICU and a normally staffed inpatient unit (Whitlock, 2023).

Medical and Surgical Units

Burn Unit: This unit provides care to patients who have suffered advanced and complicated burn injuries. These patients have complex and intensive care requirements because a number of complications, including infections, are common when a patient has severe burns.

Cardiology: Provides care for patients with medical cardiac-related issues. The cardiology unit typically does not care for a patient in the acute phase of a myocardial infarction but would handle the aftercare once the patient is somewhat stabilized. The unit would also have patients with congestive heart failure, unstable blood pressure, and other cardiac pathologies.

General Medicine: Provides treatment for a vast array of illnesses, such as pneumonia, bronchitis, or mobility issues, or they are waiting for placement in another facility, such as long-term care. Often a patient’s condition does not warrant being on a more specialized unit, but rather the patient may have a number of comorbidities (more than one condition or disease at the same time).

General Surgery: Provides pre- and post-operative treatment for patients who have had a variety of routine procedures that do not require specialized or complex care, such as appendectomies, mastectomies, or hernia repairs.

Gerontology: Provides inpatient services for frail older adults with multiple or complex medical problems, with the goal of helping them become independent again (Alberta Health Services, n.d.). Concerns addressed may include recent changes in mental, physical and functional abilities and/or safety concerns.  Geriatric patients are generally over the age of 75, though that may vary depending on the policy and specific cutoff age for geriatric status in the local area.

Gynecology: Provides medical and surgical treatment for patients with ailments of the female reproductive system, such as fibroid tumours, exacerbations of endometriosis, uterine bleeding, or other disorders. However, patients would not go to this unit for pregnancy-related issues.

Mat/Child/Labour and Delivery: Provides care to women in labour or at risk for immediate labour. Patients would not come to this unit if they were early on in their pregnancy or for fertility issues. Once the patient has delivered the baby, the mother and infant stay on the unit until stable, but they are often discharged within a day or two at the most.

Mental Health: Provides care for individuals with a mental health diagnosis, including schizophrenia or major depressive disorders. There may be different types of mental health or psychiatric/psych units in hospitals, including locked units, full-time units, or units which allow patients to leave during the day and return in the evening.

Nephrology: Provides care for patients with a pathology that affects the kidneys. They may require dialysis, which is often done in a dialysis unit, but they may have other pathologies such as kidney stones, blockages, or other issues with kidney function.

Neurology: Provides non-surgical treatment of disorders related to the nervous system, including stroke, head trauma, epilepsy, and neuromuscular disorders.

Neurosurgery: Provides care for patients who have had surgery procedures related to the nervous system, including aneurysm surgery and spinal fusions.

Oncology/Systemic Therapy: Provides therapies intended to improve or cure cancer, including radiation or chemotherapy (Whitlock, 2023).

Orthopedics: Provides care to patients with injury or chronic anomaly to their bones or joints which requires surgical treatment and intervention, such as joint replacement or internal fixation of fractures.

Palliative: Provides care which focuses on providing comfort and optimizing the quality of life for terminal and life-limiting illnesses, which may or may not be cancer-related.

Pediatrics: Provides medical and surgical care to patients under the age of 18. Pediatric units may be general or specialized for certain conditions, such as trauma or pulmonary conditions.

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: Provides plastic surgery services, including reconstructive surgery to reconstruct damaged tissues and cosmetic care to enhance physical appearance.  Some plastic and reconstructive units will also provide hand surgery, while this may be a function of orthopedic units in other hospitals.

Rehab: Provides care for patients after an injury or surgery to increase their strength and improve their functioning so that they can go home.

Respiratory/Pulmonary: Provides medical treatment to patients with some form of acute or chronic pulmonary condition; for example, injuries to the lungs such as atelectasis or pleural effusion. They might also have chronic conditions such as uncontrolled asthma, bronchitis, COPD, or inflammation or infection in the respiratory system. In smaller hospitals, these patients may be admitted to a general medicine unit.

Telemetry: Provides continuous cardiac monitoring 24/7 for patients with heart disease,  irregular heart rhythms, and heart failure (National Telemetry Association, 2024). Telemetry units may be stand-alone units or may be part of a cardiology unit.

Thoracic/Chest: Provides treatment for patients with surgery of the chest or respiratory system, such as thoracotomy or bullectomy.

Urology: Provides surgical treatment for patients with a pathology or anomaly that relates to the urinary system and/or male genitourinary systems, such as prostate disease and renal and bladder dysfunctions.

References

Alberta Health Services. (n.d.). Programs & services: Acute geriatric unit. 

National Telemetry Association. (2024). The importance of a telemetry medical unit in hospitals. 

Whitlock, J. (2023, August 31). Understanding hospital acronyms for floors and units. verywell health.

Attributions

“Inpatient Hospital Departments” is adapted from “9.5 Hospital Units: in The Language of Medical Terminology” in The Language of Medical Terminology, copyright © 2022 by Lisa Sturdy and Susanne Erickson, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

“woman in blue scrub suit standing beside woman in white robe” by National Cancer Institute; used under the Unsplash license.