The new Department of Intensive Care Medicine

The University Medical Center Utrecht is a 1042 bed hospital with about 30.000 inpatient admissions per year. All academic specialties are pre­sent and the hospital is a center for heart and lung transplantations, ventricular assist devices, trauma, neurosurgery, oncology, hematology and AIDS-patients. The Division of Intensive Care is one of 13 divisions of the University Medical Center Utrecht.

The new Intensive Care Department is opened since the 1st of March 2010 and has 36 private rooms. Safety, daylight, privacy, space, innovation and patient-centered care have been the main aims in the design of the new department. The University Medical Center Utrecht building has four adjacent blocks of five floors each. The Intensive Care Department is built on the roof of one of the blocks as the 6th floor and occupies 5500 m2. Medical, research and administrative personnel have their offices at the northern side of the building as well as two nursing locker room areas with individual lockers, bathrooms and showers. There are three units of 12 beds at the east, south and western sides. Four gardens of 60 m2 are located on the roof to allow daylight everywhere in the department. The patients and the personnel are aligned to appreciate either the outside or the garden view. A restaurant for the medical and nursing staff is located next to one of the gardens.