ABSTRACT
Caring for the critically ill is a humanistic endeavor that requires thoughtful collaboration by a multidisciplinary team. In recent times, patient care in ICUs has become more complex with technological advances in monitoring, diagnostic testing, and therapeutics; many of these advances have translated into improved patient outcomes. In this increasingly complicated system, local culture and goals for the unit can also be overwhelmed by the impersonal and overarching institutional objectives. Developing "ICU specific principles" is a structured approach to cultivate habits and encourage attitudes that are aligned with the values of the team; this can serve to optimize the work environment and prioritize excellent patient care.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic resulted in unprecedented numbers of patients with respiratory failure requiring ventilatory support. The number of patients who required critical care quickly outpaced the availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. Consequently, health care systems had to creatively expand critical care services into alternative hospital locations with repurposed staff and equipment. Deploying anesthesia workstations to the ICU to serve as mechanical ventilators requires equipment preparation, multidisciplinary planning, and targeted education. We aim to contextualize this process, highlighting major differences between anesthesia workstations and ICU ventilators, and to share the insights gained from our experiences creating an anesthesia provider-based ventilator management team.