We care for patients with various heart conditions, including:
- Heart failure
- Coronary artery disease
- Pericarditis
- Heart conditions during pregnancy and the postpartum period
- Heart complications caused by cancer treatment
What to expect
You may be referred to the CCU from the Emergency Department or another unit or clinic within Mount Sinai Hospital or the University Health Network (UHN).
When you arrive at the CCU and throughout your stay, we may recommend tests to assess and monitor your condition. Learn more about cardiology tests.
Every day our CCU team will meet by your bedside for daily rounds. This is when we will discuss your care plan and any new test results with you. Many members of our care team with different types of expertise will attend these discussions. This is a good time for you and your caregivers to ask any questions you may have.
Please note that we are a teaching hospital, so you may see a medical student, resident or other medical trainee as part of your care. Learners are supervised by other members of our dedicated health-care team who work together to provide you with comprehensive care.
Visiting a patient
The CCU is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our CCU team encourages visitors in the CCU. Due to space constraints, visitors may be limited to two at a time.
Overnight visitors will need to visit Security for an overnight pass and observe quiet hours from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Please note that there may be times when visitors are asked to wait before seeing a patient. Visitors may also be asked to leave the CCU if the patient requires rest or care. For example, visitors are asked to avoid visits between 7 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. when our team performs assessments.
Occasionally there are restrictions on the number of visitors allowed in a room, such as when infection control measures are increased. Our CCU team does our best to let family and caregivers know about these changes in advance.
As Mount Sinai is a scent-free hospital, visitors should please refrain from wearing scented products.
Visitors are allowed to bring in food for the patient as long it meets any dietary restrictions the patient may have as part of their medical care.
If visitors have any questions, the best person to ask is the nurse assigned to care for the patient.
Leaving the CCU
When you no longer need critical care, you may be transferred to a different inpatient location for the duration of your stay in the hospital. In some instances, our CCU team will help you get ready to leave the hospital and return to your place of residence directly.
A member of our care team will meet with you to talk about your medication and/or discharge instructions. If you are going directly home, please be prepared to leave at 9 a.m.
