Who is going to turn on the ventilators?

Marcelo Cunio Machado Fonseca,Daniela Farah,Teresa Raquel De Moraes Andrade,Dayan Sansone,Gabriela Tannus Branco De Araújo,Fulvio Alexandre Scorza,Paulo Sérgio Lucas Da Silva

doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2021ao6211

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective To analyze the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, a continental-sized country, considered as an emerging economy but with several regional nuances, focusing on the availability of human resources, especially for intensive care units.Methods The database of the National Registry of Health Facilities was accessed. Healthcare professionals in the care of COVID-19 were georeferenced. We correlated the number of professionals with the parameters used by the World Health Organization. According to the Brazilian Intensive Care Medicine Association, we correlated the data for adult intensive care unit beds in each state with the number of professionals for each ten intensive care unit beds. The number of professionals, beds, and cases were then organized by state.Results The number of physicians per 100 thousand inhabitants followed the World Health Organization recommendations; however, the number of nurses did not. The number of intensivists, registered nurses, nurse technicians specialized in intensive care, and respiratory therapists, necessary for every ten intensive care beds, was not enough for any of these professional categories. A complete team of critical care specialists was available for 10% of intensive care unit beds in Brazil.Conclusion There is a shortage of professionals for intensive care unit, as we demonstrated for Brazil. Intensive care physical resources to be efficiently used require extremely specialized human resources; therefore, planning human resources is just as crucial as planning physical and structural resources.

Highlights

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), which was first detected, in Wuhan, China, in December 2019
The availability of human resources for intensive care unit (ICU), in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, we gathered data on health professionals from the database of the Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (CNES).(10) we organized the professionals of interest delivering care for COVID-19 patients as follows: physicians, intensive care physicians, registered nurses, intensive care registered nurses, nurse technicians and intensive care nurse technicians, physical therapists, and respiratory therapists
With the number of professionals, beds, and cases organized by locality, we identified in each state the care conditions for COVID-19, focusing mainly on ICUs

Summary

Introduction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2), which was first detected, in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The availability of human resources for ICUs, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, we gathered data on health professionals from the database of the Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (CNES).(10) we organized the professionals of interest delivering care for COVID-19 patients as follows: physicians, intensive care physicians, registered nurses, intensive care registered nurses, nurse technicians and intensive care nurse technicians, physical therapists, and respiratory therapists. Each of these professionals was georeferenced, according to the city of their registration

Results

Discussion

Conclusion