Understanding Crisis in Critical Care

Book excerpt: The first detailed retrospective of the spread and management of COVID-19—and a blueprint for better management of the next major healthcare crisis From a team of global experts, Understanding Crisis in Critical Care describes the global spread of COVID-19 and analyzes how it was managed compared to other deadly epidemics, such as SARS and MERS. The book features contributors from across the world who dealt first-hand with COVID-19, making this a truly global retrospective on new global pandemics. Organized into three sections, the text covers critical care changes associated with crises, crises in pandemics, trauma, and crises in war and natural disasters. You’ll learn how hospitals are transformed to accommodate surges in patients, while dealing with shortages in staffing, medications, mechanical ventilators, and personal protective equipment and get an invaluable look at how real-time critical decision were made during the height of the pandemic. This one-of-a-kind guide covers: • Working the frontlines • Antimicrobials versus Immunomodulators • Respiratory failure and mechanical ventilation • Repurposing therapies for COVID-19 • Endocrinologic and cardiovascular Issues • Special Populations: pediatrics and immunocompromised patients • SARS, MERS, COVID-19, Ebola, Anthrax, Influenza • Traumatic brain and lung injury • Palliative care and bioethics • Psychiatric issues • Intensive care units under austere conditions • Terrorism (biological and chemical)