Critical COVID-19 patient evacuation on an amphibious assault ship: feasibility and safety. A case series.
health & safety
intensive & critical care
public health
quality in health care
respiratory infections
Journal
BMJ military health
ISSN: 2633-3775
Titre abrégé: BMJ Mil Health
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101761581
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Aug 2021
Aug 2021
Historique:
received:
11
05
2020
revised:
11
07
2020
accepted:
16
07
2020
pubmed:
9
8
2020
medline:
5
8
2021
entrez:
9
8
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
An amphibious assault ship was deployed on 22 March in Corsica to carry out medical evacuation of 12 critical patients infected with COVID-19. The ship has on-board hospital capacity and is the first time that an amphibious assault ship is engaged in this particular condition. The aim is to evaluate the feasibility and safety of prolonged medical evacuation of critical patients with COVID-19. We included 12 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection: six ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and six non-ventilated patients with hypoxaemia. Transfer on an amphibious assault ship lasted 20 hours. We collected patients' medical records: age, comorbidities, COVID-19 history and diagnosis, ventilation supply and ventilator settings, and blood gas results. We calculated oxygen consumption (OC). All patients had a medical history. The median delay from onset of symptoms to hospitalisation was 8 (7-10) days. The median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score on admission was 3 (2-5). There was no significant increase in oxygen during ship transport and no major respiratory complication. There was no significant increase in arterial oxygen pressure to fractional inspired oxygen ratio among ventilated patients during ship transport. Among ventilated patients, the median calculated OC was 255 L (222-281) by hours and 5270 L (4908-5616) during all ship transport. Among non-ventilated patients, the median calculated OC was 120 L (120-480) by hours and 2400 L (2400-9600) during all ship transport. The present work contributes to assessing the feasibility and safety condition of critical COVID-19 evacuation on an amphibious assault ship during an extended transport. The ship needs to prepare a plan and a specialised intensive team and conduct patient screening for prolonged interhospital transfers.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32764134
pii: bmjmilitary-2020-001520
doi: 10.1136/bmjmilitary-2020-001520
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
224-228Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.