Back to Search
Start Over
Challenges for the care delivery for critically ill COVID-19 patients in developing countries: the Brazilian perspective
- Source :
- Critical Care, Critical Care, Vol 24, Iss 1, Pp 1-3 (2020), Critical care, 24(1):593
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- BioMed Central, 2020.
-
Abstract
- The delivery of critical care is a major challenge for developing countries [1]. The inequity of access to an ICU bed, heterogeneous triage policies, a low staff/patient ratio and suboptimal adherence to evidence-based practices contribute to disproportionally high mortality of sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome in these countries [2,3,4,5]. In addition, limited step-down and specialized ward beds’ availability further widens the gap between critical and non-critical care inside hospitals. As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads through the world, developing countries are challenged with the surge of pneumonia cases where up to 30% of all hospitalized cases will require ICU admission [6]. In August 2020, Brazil is a hotspot of COVID-19 with more than 100,000 deaths. Other Latin American countries such as Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Chile are also among the 10 countries with most cases worldwide. Several factors seem to have contributed to the dramatic progress of the epidemic in the country. Initial measures of social distancing were adopted at the beginning of the epidemic in several states. However, the lack of central coordination and, at a certain point, the denial of the pandemic by a populist government meant that more effective measures such as lockdown were not adopted whereas use of unproven therapies such as hydroxychloroquine was encouraged. Also, the low availability of tests and progression towards the interior and peripheries of large cities made the epidemic hard to control causing overwhelming hospitals and ICUs.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
Latin Americans
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Critical Illness
media_common.quotation_subject
Pneumonia, Viral
MEDLINE
Developing country
Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine
Betacoronavirus
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Denial
Pandemic
medicine
Humans
Intensive care medicine
Developing Countries
Pandemics
media_common
SARS-CoV-2
business.industry
Social distance
lcsh:Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid
COVID-19
030208 emergency & critical care medicine
lcsh:RC86-88.9
Triage
Intensive Care Units
Commentary
Coronavirus Infections
business
Delivery of Health Care
Brazil
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1466609X and 13648535
- Volume :
- 24
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Critical Care
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....f785f758faefd1026771b7df361a2229