Anaesthesia and Critical Care Department at a Major Academic Centre's Adaptation to Face the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The new novel coronavirus is having a major impact on healthcare systems internationally. Hospitals are struggling to manage the sudden influx of critical patients. Anaesthesiologists and critical care physicians are front liners in the fight against COVID-19 and carry the highest risk of getting infected. Due to the rapid response of the Saudi government to the WHO's early warning, we were fortunate at our hospital to see a slower rise in COVID-19 cases allowing us some time to prepare. We had to make room for the expected rise in highly infectious and critical patients, while at the same time protecting non-COVID-19 patients, staff and trainees. Additionally, the team continued to provide essential and specialized care to all patients in the hospital and maintain its academic and non-clinical services within the university. This review presents the different protocols, challenges and lessons learned during the development of a COVID-19 anaesthesia and critical care department plan in a major teaching hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Our ultimate aim is to share our experience with other similar institutions.

Re-exploration for bleeding after cardiac surgery: revaluation of urgency and factors promoting low rate.

BACKGROUND: Re-exploration of bleeding after cardiac surgery is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Perioperative blood loss and rate of re-exploration are variable among centers and surgeons. OBJECTIVE: To present our experience of low rate of re-exploration based on adopting checklist for hemostasis and algorithm for management. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of medical records was conducted for 565 adult patients who underwent surgical treatment of congenital and acquired heart disease and were complicated by postoperative bleeding from Feb 2006 to May 2019. Demographics of patients, operative characteristics, perioperative risk factors, blood loss, requirements of blood transfusion, morbidity and mortality were recorded. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of re-exploration and determinants of adverse outcome. RESULTS: Thirteen patients (1.14%) were reexplored for bleeding. An identifiable source of bleeding was found in 11 (84.6%) patients. Risk factors for re-exploration were high body mass index, high Euro SCORE, operative priority (urgent/emergent), elevated serum creatinine and low platelets count. Re-exploration was significantly associated with increased requirements of blood transfusion, adverse effects on cardiorespiratory state (low ejection fraction, increased s. lactate, and prolonged period of mechanical ventilation), longer intensive care unit stay, hospital stay, increased incidence of SWI, and higher mortality (15.4% versus 2.53% for non-reexplored patients). We managed 285 patients with severe or massive bleeding conservatively by hemostatic agents according to our protocol with no added risk of morbidity or mortality. CONCLUSION: Low rate of re-exploration for bleeding can be achieved by strict preoperative preparation, intraoperative checklist for hemostasis implemented by senior surgeons and adopting an algorithm for management.