A system under which patients are grouped together in units depending on their need for care as determined by their degree of illness rather than by consideration of medical specialty. There are three conventional levels or stages of progressive patient care: intensive care, that needed for critically ill patients; intermediate care, that intermediate between intensive and minimal; and minimal care or self-care, which seems self-explanatory. Except for the development of intensive care units, the concept of progressive patient care does not appear to have had much impact on the organization of hospitals and other health programs.
A system of organizing patient care in the hospital in which the hospital establishes patient care units ready to provide different intensities of care (for example, intensive, intermediate, and self-care), and moves patients from unit to unit as they progress in their illnesses.