The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has been designated a public health emergency of international concern.

The coronavirus disease 2019 has rapidly evolved into a worldwide pandemic. Preparing intensive care units (ICU) is an integral part of any pandemic response. In this review, we discuss the key principles and strategies for ICU preparedness. We also describe our initial outbreak measures and share some of the challenges faced. To achieve sustainable ICU services, we propose the need to 1) prepare and implement rapid identification and isolation protocols, and a surge in ICU bed capacity; (2) provide a sustainable workforce with a focus on infection control; (3) ensure adequate supplies to equip ICUs and protect healthcare workers; and (4) maintain quality clinical management, as well as effective communication.

Purpose In the critically ill, hospital-acquired bloodstream infections (HA-BSI) are associated with significant mortality. Granular data are required for optimizing management, and developing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods We carried out a prospective international cohort study of adult patients (≥ 18 years of age) with HA-BSI treated in intensive care units (ICUs) between June 2019 and February 2021. Results 2600 patients from 333 ICUs in 52 countries were included. 78% HA-BSI were ICU-acquired. Median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score was 8 [IQR 5; 11] at HA-BSI diagnosis. Most frequent sources of infection included pneumonia (26.7%) and intravascular catheters (26.4%). Most frequent pathogens were Gram-negative bacteria (59.0%), predominantly Klebsiella spp. (27.9%), Acinetobacter spp . (20.3%), Escherichia coli (15.8%), and Pseudomonas spp . (14.3%). Carbapenem resistance was present in 37.8%, 84.6%, 7.4%, and 33.2%, respectively. Difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR) was present in 23.5% and pan-drug resistance in 1.5%. Antimicrobial therapy was deemed adequate within 24 h for 51.5%. Antimicrobial resistance was associated with longer delays to adequate antimicrobial therapy. Source control was needed in 52.5% but not achieved in 18.2%. Mortality was 37.1%, and only 16.1% had been discharged alive from hospital by day-28. Conclusions HA-BSI was frequently caused by Gram-negative, carbapenem-resistant and DTR pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance led to delays in adequate antimicrobial therapy. Mortality was high, and at day-28 only a minority of the patients were discharged alive from the hospital. Prevention of antimicrobial resistance and focusing on adequate antimicrobial therapy and source control are important to optimize patient management and outcomes. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00134-022-06944-2.

INTRODUCTIONWe reviewed patients with critical incidents that occurred in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) at a major tertiary hospital, and assessed the effect of these incidents on PACU length of stay and discharge disposition.METHODS A retrospective review was conducted of patients in the PACU over a two-year period from 24 June 2011 to 23 August 2013. Data on critical incidents was recorded in the administrative database using a standardised data form. RESULTSThere were 701 incidents involving 364 patients; 203 (55.8%) patients had American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I or II. The most common critical incidents were cardiovascular-related (n = 293, 41.8%), respiratory (n = 155, 22.1%), neurological (n = 52, 7.4%), surgical (n = 47, 6.7%) and airway-related (n = 34, 4.9%). There were two incidents of cardiac arrest and 25 incidents of unexpected reintubations. Many patients (n = 186, 51.2%) stayed for over four hours in the PACU due to critical incidents and 184 (50.5%) patients required a higher level of care postoperatively than initially planned. Some patients (n = 34, 9.3%) returned to the operation theatre for further management. A proportion of patients (n = 64, 17.6%) had unplanned intensive care unit admissions due to adverse events in the PACU.CONCLUSION A wide spectrum of critical incidents occur in the PACU, many of which are related to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Critical incidents have a major impact on healthcare utilisation and result in prolonged PACU stays and higher levels of postoperative care than initially anticipated.