Advanced monitoring and treatment for neurocritical care patients
The Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit (NSICU) at Palmetto Health Richland is a 16-bed state-of-the-art facility staffed by full-time neurointensivists and neuro specialty-trained nurses. Serving Columbia, Lexington, Irmo and the greater Midlands region of South Carolina, our NSICU is the only unit of its kind in the area.
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Neurointensive care
Catastrophic brain injuries and neurological disorders can be life-threatening and disabling without effective intervention and care. At Palmetto Health, our neurointensive care experts have extensive training and experience in the management of critical neurological conditions. A thorough diagnostic evaluation, meticulous monitoring, and innovative treatment techniques help our team ensure the best possible outcome for each patient.
Conditions we care for at the NSICU include:
- Postoperative brain tumor
- Ischemic stroke
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage
- Traumatic brain injury
- Intracranial hemorrhage
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Subdural hematoma
- Myasthenia gravis
- Spinal trauma
- Status epilepticus
- Encephalitis
- Meningitis and other CNS infections
Multidisciplinary team
In the NSICU, a multidisciplinary team of specially trained physicians, nurses, therapists and other professionals provides collaborative, coordinated and attentive care in a unique environment. At the bedside, nurses assess patients’ vital functions, speech, movement and cranial nerve responses every hour, or more frequently if necessary. Physical and occupational therapists mobilize patients as early as possible, working with each individual to assess his or her ultimate rehabilitation needs.
Highly trained speech-language pathologists evaluate swallowing functions, assess cognition and provide augmentative alternative communication and experienced dietitians provide guidance on nutrition. Specially trained critical care pharmacists provide invaluable support to physicians and nurses in the NSICU. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants provide advanced practice care in collaboration with the neurointensivists and the neurocritical care team.
Our NSICU care is currently directed by neurointensivists Rodney Leacock, MD, and Mohit Datta, MD. Our success requires tremendous collaboration among all neurocritical care team members, and our strength is our ability to recognize and respond quickly and thoroughly to the nuances of neurocritical care.
Meet our NSICU Team »
Advanced interventions
In addition to standard interventions, our neurocritical care experts offer specialized care including monitoring of intracranial pressure, cerebral hemodynamic improvement, targeted temperature management and advanced monitoring (brain oximetry, cerebral microdialysis and continuous electroencephalography). They also understand secondary brain injury following traumatic brain injury (TBI), ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and work to prevent, identify and treat secondary brain insult. Neurointensivists in collaboration with neurosurgeons, neurologists and other physicians execute the critical care protocol decisions in the NSICU.