Critical Care Medicine

1. Basic information

The Department of Critical Care Medicine of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University was founded in 1991. It is one of the first 11 ICUs established in hospitals affiliated to universities directly under the Ministry of Health with special funding from the Ministry, and the first comprehensive ICU in Shandong Province, marking the beginning of critical care medicine in Shandong. The department was granted the right to confer master's degrees in 1995 and became the first doctoral programme in critical care medicine in Shandong in 2010. In September 2011 it was approved by the Ministry of Health as one of the first national clinical key specialties in critical care medicine. In 2007 it became one of the first training bases for critical care specialist nurses in Shandong; in 2015 it was designated one of the first national demonstration bases for standardised residency training; in 2018 it was approved as one of the first national standardised training bases for critical care medicine specialists; and in 2020 as one of the first national standardised residency training bases in critical care medicine. It was named a "Shandong Women's Civilised Post" in 2012 and a "Shandong Workers' Pioneer" in 2019; in 2021 it received the "National Workers' Pioneer" award and in 2024 was named an advanced collective of Shandong University.

2. Refining clinical skills and building specialty strengths, with a nationwide reach and many national firsts

After more than thirty years of development, Qilu critical care has grown into a national regional medical centre for acute and critical care with international treatment concepts, outstanding resuscitation capability and top-level equipment. The department has 88 beds and treats nearly 3000 critically ill patients a year. It has more than 50 physicians and more than 200 nurses, including 5 chief physicians (nurses) and 13 associate chief physicians (nurses), and 5 respiratory therapists.

As one of the larger comprehensive acute and critical care centres in China, it serves critically ill patients from across the province and beyond. It has taken the lead in Shandong in introducing a number of diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, some at the domestic forefront: 1) electrical impedance tomography (EIT) monitoring; 2) extracorporeal CO2 removal (ECCO2R); 3) inhaled nitric oxide (NO); 4) faecal microbiota transplantation to rebuild the intestinal immune microecology; 5) endovascular cooling for targeted temperature management (TTM), together with critical care ultrasound assessment of cardiopulmonary function and thrombosis; 6) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

In 1998 the department established the first critical care academic society in Shandong — the Critical Care Medicine Committee of the Shandong Society of Pathophysiology. In 2005 it led the founding of the Critical Care Medicine Branch of the Shandong Medical Association. In 2023 it led the establishment, together with five provinces and nearly 100 hospitals, of the National Regional Medical Centre – Critical Care Medicine Specialty Alliance under joint provincial and ministerial construction. In 2024 it was approved as the Shandong University Innovation Research Centre for Sepsis and Multiple Organ Injury. It is currently the chair unit of eight critical care academic organisations, including the Critical Care Medicine Branch of the Shandong Medical Association and the Critical Care Medicine Committee of the Shandong Society of Pathophysiology.

3. Research and teaching as the cornerstone, with deep reserves of talent

The discipline has a strong faculty and deep talent reserves. It currently has 5 doctoral supervisors and 6 master's supervisors in critical care medicine, 2 Taishan Scholar Young Experts, 1 Shandong Provincial Excellent Young Scientist, 1 Qilu Young Scholar, 2 Qilu Health and Wellness Outstanding Talents and 3 Qilu Hospital Outstanding Young Talents. It has received 1 second prize for natural science from the Ministry of Education, 1 first prize of the Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, 1 Young Investigator Award from the BCVS of the American Heart Association, 1 annual sole Chair's Award of the International Shock Society, 4 Critical Care Young Investigator Awards of the Chinese Medical Association, 1 China Young and Middle-aged Critical Care Elite Award, 2 Shandong Critical Care Young Investigator Awards and 8 Shandong Critical Care Young Scientist Awards. It has undertaken 12 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 13 of the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation and more than 30 other provincial and ministerial projects. It has published more than 200 papers in high-impact SCI journals such as Immunity, J Infect, J Extracell Vesicles, Nature Communications, Critical Care, Emerg Infect Dis, Chest and Hypertension. It holds 4 national invention patents and more than 10 utility model patents, and has achieved 4 technology transfers worth more than 1 million yuan. In the 2022 Science and Technology Evaluation Metrics (STEM) ranking it was first in the province. In the 2023 national rankings of the most academically influential scholars in critical care medicine and the TOP 50 high-value papers in critical care, its staff ranking and the number of high-impact research outputs were both first in the province.

In teaching, the department is responsible for the undergraduate courses "Emergency and Critical Care Resuscitation", "Critical Care Clinical Thinking Training Camp", "Into the Field of Life and Death – ICU I see U", "Evidence-Based Medicine" and "Pathophysiology", the postgraduate course "Critical Care Medicine", the undergraduate MOOC "New Advances in Critical Care Treatment Techniques" and the online course "Qilu Critical Care Cloud Classroom". It has pioneered new teaching models such as the "role-simulation case evaluation workshop", the "BOPPPS teaching model innovation workshop" and "CBL case-based teaching training". It has undertaken 8 education and teaching projects of Shandong University and its medical school and held more than 20 national and provincial continuing medical education programmes.

4. Emergency rescue as the original mission of physicians, spreading great love to the frontiers of the motherland

The department undertakes national emergency rescue and medical poverty alleviation work. It has taken part in emergency rescue and assistance in a large number of incidents, including the fight against SARS, the Wenchuan earthquake, the fight against influenza A (H1N1), the Huangdao explosion, the Pingyi mine disaster and the fight against COVID-19, and many key staff have gone to Qingjian in Shaanxi, Shule in Xinjiang and Wulong in Chongqing to carry out medical poverty alleviation. During the COVID-19 epidemic the department sent six batches of medical teams to the frontline in Hubei, Shanghai, Xinjiang and six cities in Shandong, successfully completing the tasks assigned by the Party Central Committee and the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government; many members received honours including national health system advanced individual in the fight against COVID-19, Qilu Model of the Times, Most Beautiful Retrogrades of Hubei Province, Shandong advanced individual in the fight against COVID-19 and outstanding Communist Party member. Through "blood-making" assistance to Qingjian County People's Hospital in Shaanxi, Shule County People's Hospital and Toutunhe Hospital in Xinjiang and Wulong District People's Hospital in Chongqing, the department passed on advanced management concepts to the recipient hospitals, optimised medical and nursing quality control, guided the treatment of critically ill patients and greatly improved critical care diagnostic and treatment capacity; free clinics have reached almost every township in the assisted counties. Many staff have been named "Outstanding Medical Worker Assisting Xinjiang", "Lifelong Honorary Expert in Critical Care Medicine of Wulong District, Chongqing" and "Outstanding Medical Support Expert in Shandong–Chongqing Health Poverty Alleviation Cooperation".

5. Five distinctive subspecialty centres

Critical infection and sepsis subspecialty

Sepsis and severe infection are the leading causes of death in the ICU, with rapid deterioration in critically ill patients. Centred on "research-driven clinical practice", this centre has built a full-chain "research + clinical + rehabilitation" model of care at a domestically first-class and internationally advanced level. The team is led by Professor Wang Hao, has undertaken 4 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and more than ten provincial and ministerial projects, and has won a second prize of the Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award, with research results translated into clinical practice. The centre has built five distinctive diagnostic and therapeutic systems: ultra-early warning combining AI and biomarkers, diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant bacteria with NGS plus bacteriophages, control of inflammation through immunometabolism, multi-organ life support, and neurological rehabilitation for sepsis-associated encephalopathy. It has successfully treated many high-risk critically ill patients, covering all types of severe infection, septic shock and multiple organ failure. In future it will deepen research translation, refine treatment protocols, improve patients' quality of life and build a national benchmark for the specialty.

Extracorporeal life support subspecialty

Extremely critical illness often involves failure of multiple organs including the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys, with very high mortality. This subspecialty upholds the concepts of "rapid recognition, precise support, multi-organ coordination and whole-course management" and has built an integrated multi-organ platform for the treatment of extremely critical illness; it is the core extracorporeal life support centre for extremely critical patients in the province and its technical strength is advanced nationally. The team has a full complement of dedicated staff and has completed more than 600 ECMO treatments, with both ground and air emergency transport capability. The centre has built a complete matrix of extracorporeal life support technologies, with the full spectrum of ECMO, Impella, IABP, CRRT and artificial liver, and carries out demanding techniques such as ECPR and awake ECMO; supported by multidisciplinary MDT and a standardised quality control system, it can treat all kinds of near-death critically ill patients with respiratory and circulatory failure, acute liver and kidney failure and severe shock. It also undertakes training and emergency referral functions, and several techniques have filled gaps in the province and even internationally, forming the last line of defence for critical care in the region.

Critical respiratory therapy and difficult weaning subspecialty

This subspecialty upholds the concepts of "precise assessment, individualised ventilation, early rehabilitation and standardised weaning" and focuses on the comprehensive treatment of patients with critical respiratory failure and ventilator-dependent difficult weaning. The department is fully equipped with ECMO, high-end ventilators, bedside visual monitoring and a full set of rehabilitation equipment, and has formed a multidisciplinary team of critical care physicians, respiratory therapists, rehabilitation specialists, nutritionists and psychologists. It has distinctive techniques such as individualised lung-protective ventilation, bedside multimodal assessment, stepwise sequential respiratory support and respiratory muscle function rehabilitation, complemented by psychological counselling and humanistic care to relieve patients' anxiety. It treats patients with ARDS, acute exacerbation of COPD, long-term mechanical ventilation and other types of respiratory failure, using a closed-loop model of assessment, intervention, rehabilitation and follow-up; with precise diagnosis and treatment and early rehabilitation it shortens the duration of mechanical ventilation, reduces related complications and helps patients escape ventilator dependence and regain spontaneous breathing.

Critical oncology and critical haematology subspecialty

The critical oncology and haematology centre specialises in critical illness related to tumours and haematological diseases, filling a gap in refined critical care in the province. Led by Director Wang Hao, it integrates critical care, haematology and oncology resources across disciplines and has innovated a zoned and grouped nursing model to reduce cross-infection among immunocompromised patients. The centre pursues multidisciplinary collaborative treatment: for critical haematological illness it implements screening and intervention at the time of admission and provides supportive techniques such as plasma exchange and CRRT; for critical oncological illness it builds an integrated programme of infection prevention and control, organ support and anti-tumour therapy to overcome various fatal complications. Relying on the advantages of specialist collaboration, the team has successfully treated large numbers of patients with severe infection in haematological disease, multiple organ failure and critical oncological illness, greatly improving the success rate of treatment. It will further deepen disciplinary integration, develop new technologies and advance multidisciplinary collaborative diagnosis and treatment to protect the lives and health of critically ill patients.

Sub-intensive care unit (Sub-ICU/HDU)

The sub-intensive care unit upholds the mission of "protecting life, supporting recovery, returning home" and provides early, whole-course rehabilitation management for critically ill patients. The centre is fully equipped with ventilators, blood filtration and various rehabilitation and physiotherapy devices, and has formed a multidisciplinary team of critical care physicians, nurses and rehabilitation therapists. It has distinctive techniques such as stepwise respiratory weaning, early whole-body functional rehabilitation and long-term filtration to promote recovery from kidney injury, complemented by flexible visiting hours, sleep conditioning and other humanistic nursing measures to reduce delirium. It treats patients with brain injury, ventilator dependence and cardiopulmonary or renal failure, using an integrated model of treatment, rehabilitation and nursing; with precise diagnosis and treatment and humanistic care it accelerates patients' functional recovery and helps them return to normal life.