Preparedness of ICU networks for pandemics

Abstract

Purpose of review The recent COVID-19 outbreak has clearly shown how epidemics/pandemics can challenge developed countries’ healthcare systems. Proper management of equipment and human resources is critical to provide adequate medical care to all patients admitted to the hospital and the ICU for both pandemic-related and unrelated reasons. Recent findings Appropriate separate paths for infected and noninfected patients and prompt isolation of infected critical patients in dedicated ICUs play a pivotal role in limiting the contagions and optimizing resources during pandemics. The key to handle these challenging events is to learn from past experiences and to be prepared for future occurrences. Hospital space should be redesigned to quickly increase medical and critical care capacity, and healthcare workers (critical and noncritical) should be trained in advance. Summary A targeted improvement of hospital and ICU protocols will increase medical care quality for patients admitted to the hospital for any clinical reasons during a pandemic.

Syndemics, Infodemics, and How the Severity of COVID-19 Was Aggravated by Our Maladapted Lifestyle and by the Political Handling of Public Health

“…As a consequence, there have been many recent recommendations for preparing ICUs to deal with such a crisis. These include employing trained intensive care doctors in a role supervising the delivery of care by non-specialist staff ( 10 , 11 ). One suggestion has been to break-down intensive care into its constituent parts and create an “assembly line” approach focused on standardization, simplification, upskilling and multidisciplinary teamworking ( 12 ).…”