Contingency plan for the intensive care services for the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In January 2020, the Chinese authorities identified a new virus of the Coronaviridae family as the cause of several cases of pneumonia of unknown aetiology. The outbreak was initially confined to Wuhan City, but then spread outside Chinese borders. On 31 January 2020, the first case was declared in Spain. On 11 March 2020, The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. On 16 March 2020, there were 139 countries affected. In this situation, the Scientific Societies SEMICYUC and SEEIUC, have decided to draw up this Contingency Plan to guide the response of the intensive care services. The objectives of this plan are to estimate the magnitude of the problem and identify the necessary human and material resources. This is to provide the Spanish Intensive Medicine Services with a tool to programme optimal response strategies.

Simulation Training for Hospital Admission of Patients With Covid-19: Assessment of Nursing Professionals

“…15,18 It is a mainly female, young adult contingent, represented by nursing technicians and nurses, distributed in the most diverse hospital activities and specialties. 18 Studies [16][17]19 have highlighted the important role of global nursing in coping with COVID-19, which involves everything from the epidemiological screening of infected patients to the management and diligent implementation of environmental control and patient safety measures. Training, mostly in the expository and remote format, was used as a resource for the dissemination of institutional protocols, with emphasis on specific skills such as: epidemiology of the new coronavirus; use of personal protective equipment; identification of signs, symptoms and worsening of the disease; monitoring of vital parameters; disposal of infectious materials and control of movement of people.…”

Global Nurse Involvement in ethical decision-making during pandemics: a concept analysis

“…Ethical problems in pandemic situations deeply worry and disturb the conscience of nurses ( Nora et al, 2016 ). Recently, several papers have been published reviewing many ethical dilemmas arising during the current pandemic ( Rubio et al., 2020 ; Sedes et al, 2020 ; Shamieh et al, 2020 ; Turale et al, 2020 ). Literature on nurse involvement in the ethical discussion, ethical reasoning and actively partaking in decision-making has been scarce.…”

“…During pandemics, nurses regularly face ethical dilemmas needing immediate solutions. Examples can be found in how they frequently triage ( Rubio et al, 2020 ; Sedes et al, 2020 ), deal with scarcity of resources during pandemics ( Barr et al., 2008 ; Farrell et al, 2020 ) and include partners during birth under lockdown conditions ( Ecker and Minkoff, 2020 ). Some nurses cope with dilemmas of isolation and quarantine of patients’ loved ones while attempting to satisfy patients’ needs for familial emotional support ( Jain, et al 2020 ).…”

“…Hospital family visits with sick corona patients were severely restricted during the pandemic ( Sedes et al, 2020 ). The dilemma of traditionally working using model of family-centred care, the wellbeing of patients and patients dying with loved ones around is a challenge during the pandemic.…”

“…The dilemma of traditionally working using model of family-centred care, the wellbeing of patients and patients dying with loved ones around is a challenge during the pandemic. Policy was created which included restriction of family visits and only permitting visitation based on clinical, ethical and humane considerations ( Sedes et al, 2020 ). As time progressed, nurses strongly felt the negative impact of visitation restrictions.…”