scholarly journals Predicted Effects of Stopping COVID-19 Lockdown on Italian Hospital Demand

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 638-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordy Bollon ◽  
Matteo Paganini ◽  
Consuelo Rubina Nava ◽  
Nello De Vita ◽  
Rosanna Vaschetto ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTObjectives:Italy has been one of the first countries to implement mitigation measures to curb the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There is currently a debate on when and how such measures should be loosened. To forecast the demand for hospital intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU beds for COVID-19 patients from May to September, we developed 2 models, assuming a gradual easing of restrictions or an intermittent lockdown.Methods:We used a compartmental model to evaluate 2 scenarios: (A) an intermittent lockdown; (B) a gradual relaxation of the lockdown. Predicted ICU and non-ICU demand was compared with the peak in hospital bed use observed in April 2020.Results:Under scenario A, while ICU demand will remain below the peak, the number of non-ICU will substantially rise and will exceed it (133%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 94-171). Under scenario B, a rise in ICU and non-ICU demand will start in July and will progressively increase over the summer 2020, reaching 95% (95% CI: 71-121) and 237% (95% CI: 191-282) of the April peak.Conclusions:Italian hospital demand is likely to remain high in the next months. If restrictions are reduced, planning for the next several months should consider an increase in health-care resources to maintain surge capacity across the country.

2011 ◽  
Vol 152 (24) ◽  
pp. 946-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miklós Gresz

According to the Semmelweis Plan for Saving Health Care, ”the capacity of the national network of intensive care units in Hungary is one but not the only bottleneck of emergency care at present”. Author shows on the basis of data reported to the health insurance that not on a single calendar day more than 75% of beds in intensive care units were occupied. There were about 15 to 20 thousand sick days which could be considered unnecessary because patients occupying these beds were discharged to their homes directly from the intensive care unit. The data indicate that on the whole bed capacity is not low, only in some institutions insufficient. Thus, in order to improve emergency care in Hungary, the rearrangement of existing beds, rather than an increase of bed capacity is needed. Orv. Hetil., 2011, 152, 946–950.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0310057X2198971
Author(s):  
M Atif Mohd Slim ◽  
Hamish M Lala ◽  
Nicholas Barnes ◽  
Robert A Martynoga

Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand, and suffer disparate health outcomes compared to non-Māori. Waikato District Health Board provides level III intensive care unit services to New Zealand’s Midland region. In 2016, our institution formalised a corporate strategy to eliminate health inequities for Māori. Our study aimed to describe Māori health outcomes in our intensive care unit and identify inequities. We performed a retrospective audit of prospectively entered data in the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society database for all general intensive care unit admissions over 15 years of age to Waikato Hospital from 2014 to 2018 ( n = 3009). Primary outcomes were in–intensive care unit and in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcome was one-year mortality. In our study, Māori were over-represented relative to the general population. Compared to non-Māori, Māori patients were younger (51 versus 61 years, P < 0.001), and were more likely to reside outside of the Waikato region (37.2% versus 28.0%, P < 0.001) and in areas of higher deprivation ( P < 0.001). Māori had higher admission rates for trauma and sepsis ( P < 0.001 overall) and required more renal replacement therapy ( P < 0.001). There was no difference in crude and adjusted mortality in–intensive care unit (16.8% versus 16.5%, P = 0.853; adjusted odds ratio 0.98 (95% confidence interval 0.68 to 1.40)) or in-hospital (23.7% versus 25.7%, P = 0.269; adjusted odds ratio 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.60 to 1.18)). One-year mortality was similar (26.1% versus 27.1%, P=0.6823). Our study found significant ethnic inequity in the intensive care unit for Māori, who require more renal replacement therapy and are over-represented in admissions, especially for trauma and sepsis. These findings suggest upstream factors increasing Māori risk for critical illness. There was no difference in mortality outcomes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097321792110512
Author(s):  
Suryaprakash Hedda ◽  
Shashidhar A. ◽  
Saudamini Nesargi ◽  
Kalyan Chakravarthy Balla ◽  
Prashantha Y. N. ◽  
...  

Background: Monitoring in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) largely relies on equipment which have a number of alarms that are often quite loud. This creates a noisy environment, and moreover leads to desensitization of health-care personnel, whereby potentially important alarms may also be ignored. The objective was to evaluate the effect of an educational package on alarm management (the number of alarms, response to alarms, and appropriateness of settings). Methods: A before and after study was conducted at a tertiary neonatal care center in a teaching hospital in India involving all health-care professionals (HCP) working in the high dependency unit. The intervention consisted of demo lectures about working of alarms and bedside demonstrations of customizing alarm limits. A pre- and postintervention questionnaire was also administered to assess knowledge and attitude toward alarms. The outcomes were the number and type of alarms, response time, appropriateness of HCP response, and appropriateness of alarm limits as observed across a 24-h period which were compared before and after the intervention. Findings: The intervention resulted in a significant decrease in the number of alarms (11.6-9.6/h). The number of times where appropriate alarm settings were used improved from 24.3% to 67.1% ( P < .001). The response time to alarm did not change significantly (225 s vs 200 s); however, the appropriate response to alarms improved significantly from 15.6% to 68.8%. Conclusion: A simple structured intervention can improve the appropriate management of alarms. Application to Practice: Customizing alarm limits and nursing education reduce the alarm burden in NICUs


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. e1-e4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Canfield ◽  
Sandra Galvin

Since 2010, health care organizations have rapidly adopted telemedicine as part of their health care delivery system to inpatients and outpatients. The application of telemedicine in the intensive care unit is often referred to as tele-ICU. In telemedicine, nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, and other health care professionals provide patient monitoring and intervention from a remote location. Tele-ICU presence has demonstrated positive outcomes such as increased adherence to evidence-based care and improved perception of support at the bedside. Despite the successes, acceptance of tele-ICU varies. Known barriers to acceptance include perceptions of intrusiveness and invasion of privacy.


1994 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy E. Page ◽  
Nancy M. Boeing

Much controversy has arisen in the last few decades regarding parental and family visitation in the intensive care setting. The greatest needs of parents while their child is in an intensive care unit include: to be near their child, to receive honest information, and to believe their child is receiving the best care possible. The barriers that exist to the implementation of open visitation mostly are staff attitudes and misconceptions of parental needs. Open visitation has been found in some studies to make the health-care providers’ job easier, decrease parental anxiety, and increase a child’s cooperativeness with procedures. To provide family-centered care in the pediatric intensive care unit, the family must be involved in their child’s care from the day of admission. As health-care providers, the goal is to empower the family to be able to advocate and care for their child throughout and beyond the life crisis of a pediatric intensive care unit admission


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