ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic unprecedented in size, spread, severity, and mortality. The influx of patients with severe or life-threatening disease means that in some cases, the available medical resources are not sufficient to meet the needs of all patients. Hence, healthcare providers may be forced to make difficult choices about which patients should be referred to the ICU. This document is intended to provide conceptual support to all healthcare teams currently engaged in the frontline management of the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to assist physicians in the decision-making process for ICU admission and to help them provide uninterrupted and high-quality care.
Subject(s)
Clinical Decision-Making , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Coronavirus Infections/therapy , Disease Outbreaks , Intensive Care Units , Patient Admission , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Pneumonia, Viral/therapy , COVID-19 , Humans , Pandemics , Paris/epidemiology , Practice Guidelines as TopicABSTRACT
Résumé La pandémie COVID-19 qui a atteint la France au 1er semestre 2020 a constitué pour le Service d’aide médicale urgente (SAMU) un véritable « stress test » afin de pouvoir faire face, d’une part à la demande de soins de la population, et d’autre part à la doctrine évolutive des autorités de santé. Cette situation sanitaire exceptionnelle (SSE), inédite de par son amplitude et sa durée, a nécessité de la part des différents centres de régulation et de réception des appels (CRRA) de multiples adaptations tant quantitatives que qualitatives, sur les plans humain, logistique, matériel, et technique. Alors que la première phase de l’épidémie COVID-19 s’est terminée, et dans l’incertitude d’une éventuelle reprise dans les jours ou semaines à venir, les progrès majeurs réalisés à marche forcée au niveau des SAMU pour faire face à cette crise extrême doivent devenir pérennes et constituer une nouvelle base de notre système de santé, tant pour le quotidien que pour de futures nouvelles situations sanitaires exceptionnelles. Summary The COVID-19 pandemic which reached France in the first half of 2019 constituted for the prehospital emergency medical service (PHEMS, “Service d’aide médicale urgente”, SAMU) a real “stress test” in order to be able to cope on the one hand with the demand for care of the population, and on the other hand to the evolving doctrine of health authorities. This exceptional health situation, unprecedented in terms of amplitude and duration, required for the SAMU dispatch center multiple adaptations, both quantitative and qualitative, in terms of human, logistical, material, and technique. Whereas the first phase of the epidemic has ended, and while waiting for a possible resumption in the days or weeks to come, the major progress made in a forced march to face this crisis must become lasting and constitute a new basis for our health system, both for everyday cases and for future new exceptional health situations.