A brief overviw of the Urology Intensive Care Unit
The Intensive Care Unit of Urology takes care of patients coming directly from operating rooms. They stay in our department until their conditions improve and they are ready to be transported to the standard ward department.
Yearly, there are about 1.600 surgeries. Some patients need to stay in the ICU until their health conditions stabilize.
Our unit cooperates with the Department of Oncology for tumor operations, the Plastic Surgery Department in the case of sex reassignment surgery, and the IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) Center by withdrawing sperm for assisted reproduction.
How will your detailed schedule look like? What type of surgeries, procedures, methods or treatment can you observe? Check what can you see by shadowing every member of the mentoring team.
Is this specialty placement ideal for you?
- This specialty is a very demanding one, because we care for patients right after their kidney, bladder, prostate surgeries and sometimes extremely interesting gender reassignement surgeries. It is a very difficult period of their treatment and therefore it is necessary that you are capable of working in an intense environment with patients in critical conditions.
- Are you an aspiring nurse or would you like to focus on intensive care medicine or urology? You will meet with patients right after surgery, so if you are interested in immediate post-surgical care, you will enjoy your placement with us. As the placement is limited, there will be only one student at a time.
Let's take a closer look at the specialty…
Urology is a discipline focused on dealing with the pathological conditions of the upper and lower urinary tract, male genital organs, and the adrenal glands. Our center is mainly focused on treatment of oncological urologic diseases. The professionals in our center provide more difficult classic or laparoscopic surgeries.
The Intensive Care Unit of Urology is a part of the Specialized Center of Urology. Professionals in the ICU are required to undergo special training in intensive care medicine in order to work here. One nurse usually takes care of only 1 or 2 patients during each shift. The rooms typically contain medical equipment, including respiratory machines that help patients breathe and nasogastric tubes that allow us to deliver food directly into patients' stomachs. Other devices monitor their vital functions, e.g. ECG electrodes. If needed, patients can also receive permanent or temporary stoma for their urine. Members of the Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter team (PICC), who can insert and take care of long-term vascular inputs for adult patients, are also part of our Unit.
When the conditions of a patient stabilize, he or she is transported to common patients' wards in the Standard Ward Department.
The Urology Center has multiple outpatient departments that have the most advanced equipment, such as 3D ultrasonography and video-urodynamic examination:
• General Outpatient Department
• Oncology Consulting Services
• Specialized Outpatient Department
• Andrology Consulting Services
• Metabolism Consulting Services
• Urodynamic Consulting Services
• Neurostimulation Outpatient Department
• Oncology Outpatient Department
• Outpatient Department for treatment of metaphylaxis of urolithiasis and chronic infections
• Andrology Outpatient Department
• Outpatient Department for dysfunctions of the lower and upper urinary tract
• Center for treatment and research of prostate carcinoma, run in cooperation with the Radio Therapeutic Oncology Center and Immunology Department
• Center for surgical gender reassignment
Who do we take care of?
Our center takes care of patients with erectile dysfunction, „agile male“ problems, metaphylaxis, urolithiasis or chronic urinary tract infections. Furthermore, we deal with differentiation of urinary disorders, neurogenic bladder and urogynecological problems, which we treat in cooperation with the Obstetrics and Gynecology Specialized Center. As mentioned above, we are focused on oncology patients that suffer from urologic malignancy. We are the only center in the Czech Republic that conducts gender reassignment surgeries, which are performed in cooperation with the Department of Plastic Surgery. Moreover, we perform endoscopy surgeries of the lower and upper urinary tract, as well as for prostate carcinomas, bladder and kidney tumors, extended lymph disorders, testicular tumors, benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate tumors.
Patients are hospitalized in our department before or after their surgery if their health conditions require intensive care. We typically look after them for one day following their surgery. Once their conditions are stable, we arrange transport to a standard department. In cases where any complications occur and the patient has to undergo surgery multiple times, they are required to stay in our department for a longer period of time. All of the patients in our department have their vital functions monitored constantly.
Our methods and procedures
We provide the following methods and procedures in our department:
- Laparoscopy radial cystectomy
- LESS nephrectomy – one-port access technique
- Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy technique
- Laparoscopic resection of a kidney due to a tumor
- Endoscopy urolithiasis treatment
- Use of new imaging methods in bladder tumor diagnostics. The imaging method is called narrow banding imaging (NBI).
- Derivation surgeries after cystectomy
- Neuromodulation in treatment of acute urinary bladder symptomatology
- Microsurgery technique in andrology surgeries
- Use of Ho:YAG laser in surgeries
How does the usual schedule look like?
- You will be working in the hospital on the day shift on a regular schedule. The time that you spend in the hospital will depend on the situation in the ICU, your overall approach to the specialty and your mentor. You are guaranteed 25 hours of work per week, but will be able to spend even more time in the hospital, if you so desire. This placement is only available for one student at a time, therefore the acces might be slightly limited.
If you are not sure whether this choice is suitable for you, don't hesitate to contact us. We will discuss your experience and motivation and come up with the best solution for you.
