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The Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU) is a close collaboration between Intensivists, Surgeons, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses, Nurse Assistants and house staff in training. This collaboration is intensely, consistently and reliably focused on providing excellent care, twenty- four hours a day, seven days a week.

The CTICU is led by Peter Terry, M.D., who is board certified in Internal Medicine, Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonary Disease, with 7 years of experience in cardiothoracic care. Dr. Terry is a full time, dedicated cardiothoracic intensivist (doctor who specializes in caring for critically ill patients). He provides clinical leadership of the perioperative care of patients in the CTICU who have undergone heart or lung surgery. The presence at the bedside of a fully qualified specialist clinician serves to ensure the best and safest care for our patients.

Clinical Nursing activity in the CTICU is led by the Assistant Director of Nursing, Gemma Abaring, CCRN-CSC. The Assistant Director of Nursing manages staffing and ongoing training and performance improvement activities among the nursing staff, to ensure our nurses are using the most up to date evidence-base practices.

Cardiothoracic Surgery Nurse Practitioners are advanced practice nurses, who serve to coordinate and facilitate all aspects of patient care from time of pre-op to patient’s discharge, and streamline communications among the multidisciplinary team members to guarantee seamless patient care. Patients and family, therefore, have a friendly face that they can recognize and trust to make sure they are kept informed and their needs are met.

In addition to other performance improvement initiatives, the CTICU at SUNY Downstate Medical Center is contributing to innovation in the care of open heart surgery patients with a novel nurse-driven standardized protocol for management of blood sugars after surgery. Keeping blood sugars at normal levels after surgery reduces infections and improves outcomes. Continuous Ultrafiltration is another nurse-driven protocol recently implemented for treatment of advanced heart failure and fluid overload during the post-operative stay.

The professional CTICU staff is multilingual and multicultural, as befits our location in multicultural Brooklyn, New York. The Cardiothoracic Surgical Intensive Care Unit is a service to Downstate Medical Center and the Community, and care is rendered in a spirit of service as well as excellence.

To Contact Us:

Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 40
Brooklyn, New York 11203
Tel: 718-270-1981 | Fax: 718-270-3843