Critical Care Response to the Outbreak of COVID-19: The Experience From Guangdong Province, China.

Zhiheng Xu,Xiaoqing Liu,Yonghao Xu,Yongbo Huang,Weiqun He,Tiehe Qin,Yimin Li,Yuanda Xu,Nanshan Zhong

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.576528

Abstract

In December 2019, human infection with a novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, was confirmed in Wuhan, China, and spread rapidly beyond Wuhan and around the world. By 7 May 2020, a total of 84,409 patients were infected in mainland China, with 4,643 deaths, according to a Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention report. Recent studies reported that critically ill patients were presented with high mortality. However, the clinical experiences of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not been described in Guangdong Province, where by 7 May 2020, 1,589 people had been confirmed as having COVID-19 but with a very low mortality of 8 death (0.5%). Here, we describe the experience of critical care response to the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in Guangdong Province in the following points: Early intervention by the government, Establishment of a Multidisciplinary Working Group, Prompt intensive care interventions, Adequate ICU beds and Human resource in ICU, Infection control practices.

Highlights

In December 2019, human infection with a novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, was confirmed in Wuhan, China, and spread rapidly beyond Wuhan and around the world [1, 2]
Recent studies reported that critically ill patients were presented with high mortality
Sharing experiences of the management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients from different centers are of vital importance for combating the pandemic

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In December 2019, human infection with a novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, was confirmed in Wuhan, China, and spread rapidly beyond Wuhan and around the world [1, 2]. A well-designed web-based video consultation system for critically ill patients with COVID-19 was established and applied across different cities in Guangdong Province This allowed the multidisciplinary team to share their experience with the frontline health staff and help with the management of critical illness remotely across hospitals. Distinct from the characteristics of critically ill COVID-19 patients reported in Wuhan and other epicenters of the outbreak [4,5,6,7], patients in Guangdong were managed by a group of trained intensivists and specialist nurses with sufficient ventilators, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) equipment, and personal protective equipment. The doctor/nurse-to-patient ratio was increased to intensively monitor the critically ill patients These measures may have contributed to the low mortality rate in Guangdong, which may reflect a lower mortality of the disease if there are adequate ICU beds, intensivists, and special nurses. No medical staff were infected when dealing with patients with COVID-19 in Guangdong Province

CONCLUSION

Findings

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT