Journal Article

Essential care of critical illness must not be forgotten in the COVID-19 pandemic

McAuley, Daniel F, Roy, Nobhojit, Sawe, Hendry, Khalid, Karima, Wallis, Lee, Rylance, Jamie, Molyneux, Elizabeth, Mndolo, Samson, Petersen, Dan Brun, Schell, Carl Otto, Baker, Tim, Marshall, John

2020

Overview

20% of COVID-19 patients become critically ill with hypoxia or respiratory failure (figure).1 Critical illness, describing any acute life-threatening condition, is receiving increased attention in global health because of its large disease burden and population impact.2 Before the COVID-19 pandemic, growing evidence suggested that the care of critical illness was overlooked in LRS—hospitals cannot, or do not, prioritise emergency and critical care.3 Most critically ill patients are cared for in emergency units and general wards and do not have access to advanced care in intensive care units (ICUs). [...]provision of essential care could prevent progression to multi-organ failure, reducing the burden on limited ICU capacity. DFM also reports personal fees from consultancy about acute respiratory disease for GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Bayer, unrelated to this Correspondence; in addition, DFM's institution has received funds from grants from the UK NIHR, Wellcome Trust, Innovate UK, and others, he has a patent issued to his institution for a treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome, and he is Director of Research for the Intensive Care Society and NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme Director.

• Publisher: Elsevier Ltd,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: Betacoronavirus / Civil Defense / Consultancy services / Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology / Coronavirus Infections - therapy / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Critical care / Critical Care - methods / Critical Care - standards / Critical Illness / Disease prevention / Emergency medical services / Global health / Health Planning / Hospitals / Humans / Hypoxia / Illnesses / Intensive care / Intensive care units / Medical research / Pandemics / Patients / Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology / Pneumonia, Viral - therapy / Practice Guidelines as Topic / Quality of Health Care / Respiratory diseases / Respiratory distress syndrome / SARS-CoV-2 / Viral diseases