Glossary — ICU Map

Breathing & airway

Common after surgery, sedation, or when the lungs need extra support.

Intubated (endotracheal tube): A tube goes through the mouth into the windpipe to help with breathing. It usually means they're sedated and can't talk right now — not a sign things are worsening.
Ventilator (vent): The machine that breathes for someone, or helps them breathe, through the tube. Nurses often just say "the vent."
Ventilator settings (FiO2, PEEP, tidal volume): Numbers on the vent screen that show how much oxygen and pressure someone needs. Lower numbers over time generally mean the lungs are recovering.
Extubated: The breathing tube has been removed — usually a sign of real progress toward breathing independently.
Tracheostomy (trach): A breathing tube placed through a small opening in the neck instead of the mouth, usually for people who need breathing support for a longer stretch of time.
Sedation vacation (spontaneous awakening trial): A planned, brief pause in sedatives so the team can check how someone responds and thinks — done on purpose, not by accident.
Weaning: Gradually reducing how much the ventilator is doing, so the person's own breathing takes back over.
Incentive spirometer: A small handheld device patients breathe into after surgery to keep the lungs fully expanded and lower the risk of pneumonia.

Read the full guide to ventilator numbers →

Heart & circulation

Especially relevant after cardiac surgery or in a cardiac/cardiovascular ICU (CVICU).

CABG (coronary artery bypass graft, "cabbage"): Surgery that reroutes blood flow around a blocked heart artery using a healthy vessel taken from elsewhere in the body.
Sternotomy: The chest was opened along the breastbone (sternum) to reach the heart — the standard approach for CABG and valve surgery. Recovery includes "sternal precautions," limits on lifting and pushing while the bone heals.
Cardiopulmonary bypass (heart-lung machine, "on pump"): A machine that temporarily takes over the job of the heart and lungs during surgery so the surgeon can work on a still heart.
Valve repair / replacement: Surgery to fix or replace a heart valve that isn't opening or closing properly, done either through the chest or a smaller catheter-based approach.
Ejection fraction (EF): A percentage that describes how much blood the heart pumps out with each beat. It's one measure of how well the heart muscle is working.
Cardiac output: How much blood the heart pumps per minute — a key number the ICU team watches to judge how well the heart and circulation are doing.
IABP (intra-aortic balloon pump): A thin balloon device threaded into a major artery that inflates and deflates in rhythm with the heartbeat to help a weakened heart pump blood.
ECMO: A machine that takes over for the heart and/or lungs for days at a time when they need significant support to recover — a step up from a ventilator alone.
Epicardial pacing wires: Thin temporary wires left on the surface of the heart after surgery, ready to steady the heartbeat if it becomes too slow or irregular. They're usually removed a few days later.
Atrial fibrillation (A-fib): An irregular, often fast heart rhythm that's fairly common for a few days after heart surgery and is usually treatable with medication.
Telemetry: Continuous monitoring of the heart's rhythm, displayed on a screen at the nurses' station as well as at the bedside.

Read the full guide to CABG & valve surgery recovery →

Lines, tubes & drains

The equipment you'll see at the bedside — most of it is routine, not a sign of a complication.

Central line: A flexible tube placed into a large vein (often in the neck or chest) used to give fluids, medications, and draw blood without repeated needle sticks.
Arterial line (A-line): A thin tube in an artery, usually at the wrist, that gives a continuous, precise blood pressure reading and a way to draw blood samples.
Foley catheter: A tube that drains urine from the bladder, letting the team track fluid balance closely during recovery.
Chest tube (mediastinal drain): A tube placed near the heart or lungs after surgery to clear blood, fluid, or air so it doesn't build up. The amount draining is checked regularly.
JP drain (Jackson-Pratt): A small bulb-shaped drain that removes fluid from a surgical site to help it heal, common after abdominal or chest surgery.
PICC line: A longer-term IV line inserted in the arm and threaded toward a large vein near the heart, used when someone needs IV medication for an extended period.
Swan-Ganz catheter (pulmonary artery catheter): A specialized line threaded through the heart into the lung's blood vessels, used in more complex cases to closely measure how the heart is functioning.
NG tube: A tube passed through the nose into the stomach, used to remove air and fluid or to give nutrition when someone can't eat by mouth yet.

Read the full field guide to lines & drains →

Medications & blood

General categories of medication you may hear named — always ask the team about the specific ones your family member is on.

Pressors (vasopressors): Medicines given through an IV to raise blood pressure when it's dropping too low, keeping blood flowing to vital organs.
Inotropes: Medicines that help the heart pump more forcefully, often used after cardiac surgery while the heart muscle recovers.
Sedatives: Medicines that keep someone calm and comfortable while intubated or recovering, often adjusted throughout the day based on how they're doing.
Anticoagulation ("blood thinners"): Medication that reduces blood clotting, often needed after valve surgery or with certain heart rhythms, and monitored closely with blood tests.
Protamine: A medication given at the end of bypass surgery to reverse the blood-thinning medicine used during the operation.
INR: A blood test result that shows how "thin" the blood is — used to keep anticoagulation medication at a safe level.

Monitoring & decisions

The routines and conversations that shape each day in the unit.

Rounds: The daily visit where the whole care team discusses the plan for the day. Ask your nurse what time rounds usually happen so you can be there.
Hemodynamics: A general term for how blood is flowing and how well the heart and vessels are working — blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output are all part of this picture.
Code status (including DNR): The documented plan for what the team will and won't do if the heart or breathing stops. It's a decision that can be revisited and changed at any time.
ICU delirium (including "sundowning"): Temporary confusion or disorientation that's common in the ICU, especially at night, due to medications, disrupted sleep, and illness — it usually improves as the underlying illness does.
Step-down unit: A unit with a lower nurse-to-patient ratio than the ICU, often the next stop once someone is stable enough to need less intensive monitoring.

Recovery

What comes after the acute phase of an ICU stay.

PT/OT (physical & occupational therapy): Specialists who help rebuild strength and daily function, often starting with small steps like sitting up or walking a short distance, even while still in the ICU.
Sternal precautions: Temporary limits on lifting, pushing, and reaching overhead while the breastbone heals after a sternotomy, usually for several weeks.
Discharge planning: Conversations, usually starting early, about what care will be needed after leaving the hospital — home, rehab, or a skilled nursing facility.
Palliative care consult: A specialist team focused on comfort, symptom management, and support for decision-making — they can be involved alongside curative treatment, not only at the end of life.