Below is information for patients and visitors of the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

Visitation Guidelines

To enter the MICU, please use the intercom located at the East or West entrance. If there is not a timely response, please use the telephone and dial extensions 77440 or 77441. The unit secretary will check with the nurse prior to opening the doors. We appreciate your patience.

  • For your convenience, waiting rooms are located outside of both the East and West entrances.
  • Visitation is available 24 hours in each room at the discretion of the nurse and may be limited according to the patient’s condition and privacy needs, as well as due to space constraints in order to provide safe patient care.
  • Pastoral visits are allowed anytime and are only limited if special procedures are taking place.
  • Visiting by young children may need to be arranged in advance. Children must be free of illness and have updated vaccinations.
  • The ICU room is designed for patient care. Visitors should limit bringing personal items as these must fit into the space provided for personal belongings. You are also urged to take home any valuables or things not needed while in the hospital.
  • Requests to change timing of medical procedures or tests cannot be accommodated. The timing is determined by medical necessity for the patient.

What to Expect

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is an academic medical center. Your MICU team is led by an attending ICU physician. Your team also includes trainees such as fellows (post-residency physicians who are training for a subspecialty), residents and medical students. Additionally, you will be cared for by critical-care nurses, respiratory therapists, dietitians, physical therapists, clinical pharmacists, social workers, case managers and any of their respective trainees. There may also be consulting subspeciality teams staffed similarly to the MICU team.

Family members and loved ones

Seeing a loved one in the intensive care unit can trigger feelings of helplessness or distress. These feelings are normal. Do not be afraid to ask for help and identify people in your life who can be your support systems. Make time to rest, eat a proper meal and tend to your personal needs. Lack of self-care, especially through prolonged periods of stress, can hinder your ability to process the important medical information being shared with you. It is also important to prepare yourself for potential setbacks as a patient’s condition in the ICU can rapidly change — often described as an “emotional rollercoaster” by friends and family. While the patient may appear better some days, other days may be more difficult. Speak to your healthcare team about support groups and other family and caregiver resources at UCLA.

Making difficult decisions

Families and healthcare providers in the ICU will sometimes need to make very difficult decisions. If a patient has a treatable or curable condition, the ICU team may use life support — different methods to support failing bodily functions — to help your loved one heal and recover. However, when the patient’s condition cannot be treated or cured, the use of life support may only extend the patient’s suffering. In these cases, you and your healthcare team will need to discuss the benefits of life support and make difficult decisions on prolonging or discontinuing its use.

It is important to remember to put the patient’s interests first, and sometimes this can mean stopping life support to focus more on comfort measures. In the case that the patient is not recovering, members of your ICU team can help transition your loved one from life-saving treatment to comfort care, palliative services or hospice-based services. For patients who are unfortunately unlikely to survive their hospitalization, we also provide a service called “3 Wishes".

Regardless of the prognosis, your healthcare team will make every effort to ensure that your loved is as comfortable as possible. We are committed to providing the best possible care to patients in our intensive care unit. It is a privilege to be taking care of your loved one.

Physician-nurse rounding

Every day, the healthcare team meets to discuss the plan of care and daily goals for your loved one. This will occur early in the morning but the time may vary throughout the day depending on the team’s clinical duties. We encourage you to write down any questions or concerns you may have so that you are prepared to discuss them with the healthcare team. A notepad can be found in the patient resource folder.

After the ICU

Being discharged from the ICU is a huge milestone. However, there can be challenges in adjusting back to daily life. We created the Post-ICU Recovery Clinic at UCLA to help ICU survivors navigate this recovery journey. 

Share Your Story

Patients and families can share their stories at UCLA Health Connect.
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