Critical care medicine deals with life support or organ support for patients who are critically ill. A critical care physician diagnoses, treats, and supports patients who may be in an intensive care unit, or who may have multiple organ dysfunction. Patients who receive intensive care treatment are usually critically ill patients who are treated after major surgery and require intensive monitoring. The critical care or intensive care physician may also communicate with the patient’s primary physician, other specialists, and the critical care staff to coordinate treatment and care.

Physicians in this specialty treat patients suffering from numerous diseases and illnesses, but some of the most common are Trauma, cystic fibrosis, renal failure, Liver Failure, Post-operative Care, Serious Infections, Acute Lung Injury, hemodynamic instability, Hypoxic Injury, Reversible heart & lung dysfunction, Multi-organ Dysfunction, airway & respiratory compromise, Cardiopulmonary Failure, and Circulatory Failure.

Once properly diagnosed, practitioners can perform numerous procedures on patients including endotracheal tube, mechanical ventilation, tracheotomy, ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation), establishing central venous access, adial arterial catheterization, and passage of pulmonary arterial balloon flotation catheters.

To diagnose patients with possible illnesses and diseases, specialists will often perform one of many tests including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Axial Tomography (CT or CAT Scan), Blood Test, and Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs).

Doctor density varies by specialty and location. Iowa has 111 practicing critical care medicine doctors. Broken out by city, critical care medicine doctor density in Ames is 1, in Anamosa is 4, in Atlantic is 1, in Boone is 2, in Cedar Falls is 3, in Cedar Rapids is 6, in Clinton is 2, in Clive is 8, in Council Bluffs is 4, in Cresco is 1, in Davenport is 5, in Denison is 1, in Des Moines is 23, in Fort Dodge is 2, in Grinnell is 1, in Independence is 1, in Iowa City is 46, in Mason City is 4, in Missouri Valley is 1, in Mount Pleasant is 1, in Newton is 2, in North English is 1, in Oelwein is 2, in Onawa is 1, in Ottumwa is 4, in Red Oak is 1, in Sioux City is 6, in Spencer is 4, in Spirit Lake is 1, in Waterloo is 7, in Webster City is 1, in West Burlington is 1, in West Des Moines is 2, and in Windsor Heights is 1.

Iowa’s capital is Des Moines, home to Drake University. Iowa achieved Statehood 1846, and the state’s population is now 2,996,334. The Mississippi river borders the state on the east, and a majority of the state’s economic output is agricultural. Many cultural and entertainment opportunities exist for visitors to the “quad cities” of Davenport and Bettendorf, IA, and Rock Island and Moline, IL. Numerous museums, arts, music and sports events are available in Iowa, including the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, the Amana Colonies, and the Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead. Famous people born in Iowa: Buffalo Bill, entertainers Johnny Carson and John Wayne, and former president Herbert Hoover.

According to 2005 Census estimates, Iowa has a population of 2,966,334. Of this population, 656,031 are under the age of 18 and 434,196 are at or above the age of 65.