Critical Care

Abstract

The concept of critical care in low-resource settings covers a very broad range of circumstances and settings from the ability to offer ventilation and inotropes through to an area with simply enhanced observations and/or nursing ratios. Low staffing and training levels on the general wards may necessitate admission of patients who simply require frequent observations and rapid recognition of deterioration; admission criteria may therefore be different to those in highly resourced settings. The chapter starts by describing the limits and challenges of providing critical care in low-resource settings and goes on to describe approaches to organ support. It then goes on to describe a pragmatic approach to caring for specific conditions in a low-resource critical care.