A nonprofit health system in Austin officially opened the newly expanded neurocritical care unit at UT’s Dell Medical Center on July 30, the only of its kind in Central Texas. 

Ascension Seton’s expansion of Dell’s neurocritical care unit added 15 beds, for a total of 30 beds, and allows for specialized treatment of a greater spectrum of neurological conditions, including seizures, brain or spinal tumors and other acute brain injuries. Shahed Toossi, the medical director of the neurocritical unit, said the need for expansion was a matter of space. 

“There was a 15-bed unit, which is fantastic, but what happens when there are more than 15 patients who need that kind of care,” Toossi said. “If you’re going to be a referral center for other patients in the community, you don’t want to be at capacity.” 

The expansion is part of a broader $280 million expansion of Dell Medical to provide additional healthcare services to address the needs of Central Texas’ increasing population. 

The unit opened in June 2023 and is the first of its kind in Central Texas. Toossi said before the unit opened, patients with neurological illnesses were cared for in general ICUs. 

Toossi said the new unit “came from a need to provide expert care in a specific neurocritical care unit, where patients with acute neurologic illness are cared for by experts from a physician standpoint, and from a nursing standpoint.” 

Alan Nova, a neurocritical care attending physician, helped set up the unit as the interim medical director before Toossi. Nova said the unit allows for centralized neurological care, unlike other hospitals. 

“One of the things about having the unit is it allows multi-disciplinary care in one space,” Nova said. “The physicians that are intensivists who specialize in neuroscience, or neurocritical care, and the stroke team, work in this space called the neuro ICU to deliver more efficient care and improve outcomes. That differentiates us from other hospitals that don’t have a neuro ICU.” 

Jonathan Hecht, the unit’s assistant chief nursing officer, said various studies have been published showing that patients who receive specialized neurocritical care have better outcomes. The studies show that with this care, patients have shorter hospital stays, are less likely to need long-term care and are more likely to return to their normal daily activities. 

“This patient population is not new necessarily to Dell Seton Medical Center, but, prior to this, we did not have a dedicated unit with this level of expertise to care for them,” Hecht said. “If you had an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke as an example, you may have been cared for in a different intensive care setting. We realized that having a specific ICU that was built for this patient population and having physicians (and nurses) who are trained in these conditions extensively would provide for better outcomes.”