Surviving Sepsis Campaign: Guidelines on caring for critically ill COVID-19 patients

What is it about?

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc over the past couple of years. It heavily impacted public health systems in many parts of the world. Several sick people were critically ill. These patients needed to be treated in an intensive care unit (ICU). Keeping this in mind, the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) panel on COVID-19 expanded and updated its recommendations to help doctors in handling severe and critical cases of the disease. The panel was expanded to include 43 experts from 14 countries. In view of new evidence, the SSC panel issued nine statements. These were to guide treatment of critically ill COVID patients. So, which drugs were recommended? The panel gave a nod to the use of • Systemic corticosteroids (especially dexamethasone) and • Drugs to avoid venous thrombosis. But they advised against using • Hydroxychloroquine, • Convalescent plasma, and • Anticoagulants Remdesivir could be used to treat patients who did not require ventilation support, the panel said. However, this medication should be avoided in ventilated and critical patients. Awake prone positioning was not included in the recommendations due to a lack of evidence.

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Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash

Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash

Why is it important?

COVID-19 is a novel disease, and its initial outbreak confounded doctors. Healthcare professionals who took care of critical patients require recommendations for treatment. These would guide their treatment plan. KEY TAKEAWAY: The SSC panel guidelines serve as a manual for healthcare professionals to make informed decisions when attending to COVID-19 patients. This will help in reducing death rates as well as the need for ventilators.