The impact of corona pandemic on critical care medicine

Y A pandemic is defined as an epidemic of an infectious etiology that crosses the international boundaries and infects a large number of people. This has happened several times in the human history; influenza, smallpox, bubonic plaque and cholera being some of the examples. Smallpox alone has resulted in death of 300-500 million people. As a frontline healthcare professional fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, the author has experienced its socioeconomic and psychological consequences. In addition, critical care units faced ethical challenges to meet with the bed requirement. Dedicated and modified COVID-19 critical care services were started in both the public and private sectors. Because of high workload and lack of trained medical and nursing staff, extra staff ha to be recruited on temporary basis. Some commonly performed procedures were modified to decrease the risk of infection spread. ICUs faced shortage of personal protective equipment and ventilators. Training programs were developed to help improve the understanding of novel COVID-19 infection. ICU staff was probably at lower risk of acquiring this infection as compared to other hospital staff.