An Intermediate Respiratory Care Unit in Every Hospital

Archivos de Bronconeumología
An Intermediate Respiratory Care Unit in Every Hospital
OlgaMediano,ManelLuján,SoniaLópez-Monzoni

The nature of human beings and the societal structure of our lives sometimes offer infectious diseases an opportunity to disseminate beyond our control. This is of particular importance when diseases develop into epidemics or pandemics, and at such times scientific innovations combined with social transformations are often necessary.

In both the poliomyelitis epidemic in the first half of the 20th century and the COVID-19 pandemic, non-invasive respiratory support (NIRS) became the savior of many patients who would otherwise have suffered respiratory failure and eventually death. The iron lung, developed by Drinker-Shaw in 1928, was the first negative-pressure electric ventilator to achieve widespread success in clinical practice.1 The equipment was subsequently enhanced by Emerson, and went on to become the cornerstone of treatment in patients with respiratory paralysis due to polio, until positive pressure ventilation was reintroduced in the 1950s.2 Every polio epidemic generated investment in technology aimed at improving existing ventilators, and thousands of lives were saved around the world. This long history of therapeutic advances has now helped respiratory experts confront one of the most important pandemics of the 21st century.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0300289622005877?dgcid=author

Non-invasive Respiratory Support in COVID-19: A Narrative Review

Frontiers in Medicine
Non-invasive Respiratory Support in COVID-19: A Narrative Review
Manel Luján, Javier Sayas, Olga Mediano and Carlos Egea

Acute respiratory failure secondary to COVID-19 pneumonia may require a variety of non-pharmacological strategies in addition to oxygen therapy to avoid endotracheal intubation. The response to all these strategies, which include high nasal flow, continuous positive pressure, non-invasive ventilation, or even prone positioning in awake patients, can be highly variable depending on the predominant phenotypic involvement. Deciding when to replace conventional oxygen therapy with non-invasive respiratory support, which to choose, the role of combined methods, definitions, and attitudes toward treatment failure, and improved case improvement procedures are directly relevant clinical questions for the daily care of critically ill COVID-19 patients. The experience accumulated after more than a year of the pandemic should lead to developing recommendations that give answers to all these questions.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.788190/full

Unidad de Cuidados Respiratorios Intermedios (UCRI) en la pandemia COVID-19 en España. La realidad

Archivos de Bronconeumología, Carta al Director
«Debido a la pandemia por COVID-19 declarada por la OMS en marzo del 2020, la gran mayoría de los hospitales españoles han debido transformarse para adaptarse a este nuevo escenario, resultando en cambios en su infraestructura y organización, generando estrategias de colaboración y coordinación entre diferentes especialidades1….»

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030028962100346X?dgcid=coauthor