National Guideline on ICU Management of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients

The most severe cases of COVID-19 disease develop severe respiratory distress and need early intensive care unit (ICU) support to survive. Across the world, the ICU community prepared for the challenges associated with this pandemic. Streamlining of workflows for rapid diagnosis and isolation, clinical management, and infection prevention were critical not only to patients with COVID-19, but also to health care workers and other patients who were at risk from transmission. ICU practitioners, hospital administrators, governments, and policy makers had to prepare for a substantial increase in critical care bed capacity, with a focus not just on infrastructure and supplies, but also on staff management. These Bangladesh national guidelines focus on ICU management of critically ill COVID-19 patients, and were based on recommendations, at the time, from the World Health Organization, Society of Critical Care Medicine, European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, World Federation of Society of Anaesthesiologists, Lancet Publications, WHO-China Joint Mission Report, Surviving Sepsis Campaign and early experience and forecast during an emergency response in China and Italy. This guidance was supported by USAID’s MaMoni Maternal and Newborn Care Strengthening Project (MaMoni MNCSP): Emergency Response to COVID-19 Pandemic.