Dell Seton Medical Center doubles neurocritical care unit for most critical brain injuries

Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas celebrated the expansion of its neurocritical care unit last week.

The unit, which takes care of people with any neurological disorder, including strokes, opened in May 2023 with 15 beds and a staff of specialists such as neurointensivists, neurosurgeons, neurovascular specialists, stroke experts and specialized nursing staff and therapists.

Last week, it opened 15 additional patient rooms on the fifth floor across from its original unit. The new rooms are equipped in the same manner as the original unit: bed-side physiological monitors, in-room computers and a headwall with the same built-in equipment as an intensive care unit, and built-in lifts for transferring patients from bed to chair.

This unit is intended to take patients who are not in as serious condition as the original unit, but it can be used in the same manner as the original unit as well as become an ICU depending on patient and hospital needs.

"The neurocritical care unit has expanded access to Ascension Seton's comprehensive neuroscience services here in Central Texas, including neurosurgery, spine surgery, stroke care and treatments for other complex neurological disorders," said Adam Messer, president of Dell Seton.

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Dell Seton is one of three comprehensive stroke centers in Austin. Ascension Seton Medical Center and St. David's Medical Center are the other two. Dell Seton was recognized in U.S. News & World Report this year for having high performance in stroke care. The critical care unit, though, is the first of its kind in Central Texas, said Dr. Shahed Toossi, medical director of the neurocritical care unit. It is unusual because of the level of specialists, who are staffed around the clock and not just on call, she said. Dell Seton is also the area's only Level 1 trauma center, meaning it receives the most complicated, emergency cases.

The unit is part of a $280 million expansion at Dell Seton that is expected to be completed in fall 2026 . The overall expansion includes four new stories, 150 more patient beds, six more operating rooms and space for orthopedics, an abdominal organ transplant center, and wound and burn care .

Built big enough?

Central Texas has been experiencing impressive growth in population that has led to the need to expand medical services. Two more UT hospitals are being built near Dell Seton. New hospitals in Leander, Kyle and North Austin also are planned, in addition to expansions at most of the major local hospitals.

Even by doubling the number of beds in neurocritical care, "it's likely not enough," said Meredith Wells, vice president of neurosciences and trauma at Ascension Texas and Dell Medical School. The hospital's average daily census of these kinds of cases is more than 30 currently. She and Toossi expect those numbers to go up. "When you have the beds, patients come," Toossi said.

Overflow will be taken care of in other units of the hospital in collaboration with the neurocritical care unit team, as is currently happening. With the new beds, she said, more patients can receive this level of care in those crucial early days after a neurological event.

"Patients with severe neurologic injury need expert care," Toossi said. "This has been shown in numerous studies that when someone has an acute neurological injury ... when they are cared for by a team of experts who have this specialized neurocritical care training, those patients do better."

Patients in these units also have shorter hospital stays, she said.

Read more: What's behind the growth in Central Texas health care? Here's what you need to know.

What type of cases does the neurocritical care unit care for?

The unit will care for these types of neurological disorders:

• Acute ischemic stroke
• Intracerebral hemorrhage
• Subarachnoid hemorrhage
• Seizures
• Brain or spinal tumors
• Brain or spinal surgery
• Acute brain injury
• Brain inflammation
• Complex neurological disorders of autoimmune, infectious or neuromuscular etiology

"All of these types of disorders are quite prevalent in the community," Toossi said. "Now that we have the capacity to provide this type of expert care, we are certain that our unit will fill up, and we'll probably be talking about more expansion in no time at all."

Read more: Dell Seton hospital plans $280 million expansion as need for beds, specialty care grows

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Dell Seton Medical Center doubles neurocritical care unit for most critical brain injuries