Objective To investigate the application of professional rescue techniques in the diagnosis and treatment of critically ill elderly. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the critically ill elderly patients from Department of Geriatric Critical Care Medicine from June 2007 to June 2014. Total number of residents in geriatric critical care medicine, severity of illness, application of rescue techniques, success rate, annual mortality, average length of hospital stay and medical expenses were observed and analyzed. Results The total number of residents rose from 295 in the year of 2007 to 347 in the year of 2014. Their age was increased from (80.3±6.9) years to (87.4±7.6) years (P＜0.001), and APACHEⅡ was elevated from (13.6±3.9) to (20.6±3.9) (P＜0.001). What’ more, the percentage of patients with APACHEⅡ score over 15 were increased from 25.2% to 40.6% (P＜0.05). During 2007 to 2014, the employment of professional rescue techniques as fiberbronchoscopy, mechanical ventilation and continuous veno-venous hemofiltration were dramatically decreased, while the success rate of rescue was remarkably elevated from 52.2% to 72.3%. The average length of hospital stay was also shortened from 42.5d to 16.3d, and thus the medical expenses were declined by more than 25%. Conclusion Though the age, amount and severity of the critically ill elderly are increased, specialized professional treatment greatly decreases the employment of professional rescue techniques, increases the success rate, and significantly reduces the ICU stay time and medical expenses. All these indicate that professional rescue techniques are of great helpfulness for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of the elderly in geriatric critical care medicine.