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José L. Díaz-Gómez, MD, FASE, FCCM, rides his bicycle to work every day in Houston, Texas. He passes the Texas Medical Center, where he sees a large Ukrainian flag on one of the hospital buildings. The flag symbolizes support for Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, and now when Dr. Díaz-Gómez passes it, he sees something more. He sees courage, responsibility, and hope.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) has compiled and developed resources on what clinicians need to know about mpox (formerly monkeypox). While mpox is usually a self-limited disease with symptoms lasting two to four weeks, severe cases and death have occurred during the current outbreak, so it is important for critical care clinicians to recognize potential mpox infections. Visit SCCM’s mpox web page for additional details.
SCCM President Sandra L. Kane-Gill, PharmD, MSc, FCCP, FCCM, provides an update on the SCCM emergency response efforts in Ukraine.
Detonation of small-volume, high-intensity explosives is a growing threat to civilian as well as military populations. Understanding circumstances surrounding conventional explosions helps with rapid triage and recognition of factors that contribute to poor outcomes. Rapid evacuation of salvageable victims and swift identification of life-threatening injuries allows for optimal resource utilization and patient management.
Burn injuries are very common both in disaster practice and in routine clinical practice. Petroleum derivatives, other industrial chemicals, and compressed gases are often present in our environment, and their mismanagement can result in serious health hazards. On average 60,000 patients require specialized burn unit admissions per year in the United States. Interestingly, some studies suggest that surgery, emergency medicine, and anesthesia residents are better prepared to respond to an anthrax event, a sarin exposure, or a nuclear explosion than to handle burns.
On August 14, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake rattled the nation of Haiti, killing more than 2200 people and leaving thousands of Haitians injured and in need of assistance.1 Beyond the casualties, 66 health facilities were either damaged or destroyed, putting an impossible burden on an already fragile healthcare system.1
SCCM released a statement to media imploring the public to rise to the challenge and follow recommended public health measures, such as mask wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, avoiding large groups and staying home as much as possible.
In a medical context, the term surge capacity refers to a healthcare delivery system’s ability to rapidly accommodate an increased demand for services under extenuating circumstances. The 3 most commonly identified components of surge capacity are staff, stuff (equipment, supplies, and pharmaceuticals), and space (room to accommodate patients, providers, and equipment).
When disaster strikes, effective management of resources can significantly influence the overall outcome of the response. If the number of victims and the complexity of their injuries are low and resources are abundant, resource allocation will have little impact on the disaster outcome. However, if there is a high number of victims with complex injuries and available resources are limited, how those resources are used will determine the outcome for some individuals.
This free guidebook will help you assess your ICU readiness, deploy communications plans, build ICU surge capacity, understand ethical decision making, and much more.
The supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been uncertain since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Months into this healthcare crisis, supply chains are unpredictable as reports of shortages continue. Follow these key strategies for managing PPE.
The ICU liberation Bundle (formerly known as the A-F bundle) is more important than ever in the COVID-19 era. While the pandemic has changed much inside intensive care units (ICUs), the commitment to provide multiprofessional, high-quality care is unwavering.
Because all of us are learning as we go and hungry for insights from other healthcare professionals and facilities that have been treating patients who are critically ill with COVID-19, SCCM has created the report Configuring ICUs in the COVID-19 Era.
Clinicians are sharing early findings about an emerging critical illness predominantly affecting school-aged children and young adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has defined criteria, calling it Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Associated with COVID-19.
Disasters produced by natural phenomena are sudden ecological events of sufficient magnitude to require external assistance. In recent years, these events have been affecting increasing numbers of people throughout the world. Since 2000, an average of 400 natural disasters a year have occurred worldwide, which is close to twice the occurrence in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Critical care teams should consider using remdesivir to treat patients with severe acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, but supply of the drug is limited and best practices for maximizing its effectiveness are not completely understood.
This Concise Critical Appraisal explores a Lancet Respiratory Medicine article by Ramanathan et al, which outlines how to plan for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) related to COVID-19. ECMO is a complex therapy usually restricted to specialized centers. World Health Organization guidelines suggest that carefully selected patients with ARDS may benefit. The authors explore how good planning can help during outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases.
Critical care clinicians are feeling increased personal stress about COVID-19 and are especially worried about infecting loved ones, while also expressing continued concern about personal protective equipment (PPE) and staffing shortages, according to a rapid-cycle survey from SCCM.
SCCM's president-elect Greg S. Martin, MD, MSc, FCCM, is among the experts tapped to lead a national effort to super-charge the innovation, development, and commercialization of a COVID-19 testing by fall 2020.
With hospitals in hardest-hit areas clamoring for clinicians, supplies, and equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, SCCM has been working with other nonprofits and corporations to answer the hospitals' call for help. SCCM partnered with Direct Relief to send ICU kits that included more than 86,000 units of essential pharmaceuticals to hospitals in New York and South Dakota.
SCCM member Gregory Margolin, DO, FCCP, FCCM, will be volunteering in New York City next week. He has been treating critically ill patients with COVID-19 at his hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, and will continue his efforts by treating patients at the Javits Center, the convention center in Manhattan repurposed for COVID-19 overflow.
Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD, a prominent critical care physician who has a long history of membership and involvement with the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), has been tapped to lead one of the most important missions in the government's COVID-19 response.
SCCM Member and disaster management expert Marie R. Baldisseri, MD, MPH, FCCM, is helping Italy remotely with their COVID-19 response plans. Dr. Baldisseri shares her knowledge about the situation in Italy and talks about what drives her to respond in times of crisis.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (ASPF), American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), and American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) issue this consensus statement on the concept of placing multiple patients on a single mechanical ventilator.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) announce their plans to collaborate to address the COVID-19 crisis.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) is rapidly developing and deploying resources to respond to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Enter your email to receive updates about this information.
Free COVID-19 educational programs and webcasts for clinicains that may need additional critical care training.
With the onset of COVID-19, and the strong possibility of large percentages of the U.S. population being admitted to the hospital and intensive care unit (ICU), the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) has updated its statistics on critical care resources available in the United States.
Natural disasters, industrial accidents , terrorism attacks, and pandemics all have the capacity to result in large numbers of critically ill or injured patients. This supplement provides suggestions for all of those involved in a disaster or pandemic with multiple critically ill patients, including front-line clinicians, hospital administrators, professional societies, and public health or government officials.
World Health Organization (WHO) - Environmental Health Criteria 213: Carbon Monoxide. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odourless gas that can be poisonous to humans. It is a product of the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing fuels and is also produced by natural processes or by biotransformation of halomethanes within the human body. With external exposure to additional carbon monoxide, subtle effects can begin to occur, and exposure to higher levels can result in death. The health effects of carbon monoxide are largely the result of the formation of carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb), which impairs the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology site provides information related to infection prevention. The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is the leading professional association for infection preventionists (IPs) with more than 15,000 members.
Tips for Managing and Preventing Stress: A Guide for Emergency Response and Public Safety Workers is a publication from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It provides suggestions for organizational and individual stress prevention and management approaches in this guide for emergency response and public safety workers.
Care of the Critically Ill and Injured During Pandemics and Disasters: CHEST Consensus Statement. This article provides consensus suggestions for expanding critical care surge capacity and extension of critical care service capabilities in disasters or pandemics.
This article outlines a number of important areas in which public health can contribute to making overall disaster management more effective.