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Critical care physicians, also known as intensive care physician (or intensivist) manages patients who are the risk of developing organ failures, which are life-threatening. Doctors trained in this specialty usually work in big hospitals, in their ICU (intensive care unit) section. There, they provide all aspects of care to the critically ill patients such as life support, treatment of disease, monitoring patient safety, and providing support to families of the patients.

Some of the conditions that require continuous assessment by a critical care physician are post-trauma care, liver failure, hypoglycemia, heart failure, renal failure, post-surgical recovery, poisoning, neurological damage, respiratory failure, and sepsis. They are required to provide treatments such as intubation, ventilation, dialysis, tracheostomy, etc. to sedated patients, who are monitored by a dedicated nurse. Any changes or unexpected readings are reported to the critical care physician on an emergency basis.

The intensivist tends to lead a team of specialists (such as cardiologist, pulmonologist, and others) as they are responsible for the overall care of the patient. They thus coordinate the team to improve the survival rate, reduce patient complication and ensure patient safety.