At the heart of the Covid-19 unit at the intensive care unit of the Bordeaux University Hospital

• Since Monday, CHU Pellegrin in Bordeaux has been treating five serious cases of coronavirus.
• These patients whose vital prognosis is engaged, are placed in an artificial coma and under respiratory assistance, the time of their treatment.
• The CHU has released 300 beds all armed with resuscitators to cope.

This Tuesday, a fifth serious case of coronavirus was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Bordeaux University Hospital. A fifth in ... two days. “New Aquitaine was still preserved by the Covid-19, but we can see the wave coming since the beginning of the week, since four serious patients arrived suddenly on Monday, says Dr. Benjamin Clouzeau, anesthesiologist-resuscitator. We feel this acceleration, which is why we are delighted that the containment measures have been taken. "

The Covid-19 cell of the intensive care unit of the Bordeaux University Hospital - Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes

The resuscitation unit usually receives patients with respiratory problems, which is the case of severe cases of Covid-19, considered as acute respiratory failure. It is now the reference unit for the care of these patients in New Aquitaine.

It is this unity that the CHU de Bordeaux wanted to show this Tuesday, in an “exceptional” way, to lift the veil “on what this disease really is. "

"Resuscitation is particularly heavy"

Placed on the stomach most of the time, the patients are turned over twice a day. Immersed in an artificial coma, they are under respiratory assistance to allow them to be oxygenated. "They are even curarized: it is a drug that paralyzes all their muscular activity, because they receive specific treatments against the virus, antibiotic treatments because there are often co-infections, explains Dr. Benjamin Clouzeau. This is what makes this resuscitation particularly heavy. For each of them, the vital prognosis is underway.

Serious patients with coronavirus, are placed in an artificial coma under respiratory assistance - Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes

A minimum of four nursing staff are required to return the patient. They must carefully equip themselves with specific glasses and masks before entering the room. “We isolate and group patients together in dedicated units in the service, so that our staff can work in necessary safety conditions. "

Before entering the coronavirus patient rooms, the nursing staff must be carefully equipped - Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes

These are support for several weeks of resuscitation. “Our Parisian colleagues who have completed their first services have so far had almost none of their patients discharged after two or three weeks of work. That is why they accumulate in services. "

All resuscitation patients had taken inflammatory drugs

In Bordeaux, it is confirmed that the severe cases of Covid-19 do not only affect the elderly: the first four patients admitted are all young, one even being only 26 years old. "We have a different population from that described by our Chinese colleagues," confirms Dr. Benjamin Clouzeau. But they all have the same profile, and I insist on this: they all took anti-inflammatory drugs, to treat the symptoms of feverishness. This is what must be banished. "

Dr. Benjamin Cluzeau, anesthesiologist-resuscitator at the Bordeaux University Hospital - Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes

Initial feedback from other hospitals has shown that “the disease is progressing rapidly. These patients have indeed gone "in a few hours" from a good state to a strong deterioration. This is why resuscitation works in concert with the stage of infectious diseases of Pr Denis Malvy, where the least serious patients are received, "so that they alert us early in the face of the rise in oxygen needs, so that we can admit these patients, and not miss the worsening. "

The Bordeaux CHU has more than 300 intensive care beds, "which should allow us to see the wave coming, especially if it is more gradual than what the Italians have experienced. And each bed can be "armed" with resuscitator.

An advanced medical post dedicated solely to the coronavirus

Head of the anesthesia-resuscitation department, Professor Matthieu Biais confirms the "brutality" of the worsening of the disease. Mails also notes that it stabilizes with symptomatic treatment. "It is a stable state for at least three weeks, and once this phase has passed, we can hope to extubate the patients and provide immediate care." "

For the head of service, there is no doubt that the service is “ready to receive critical patients in intensive care, in large numbers. But the whole CHU has been on the warpath for several weeks now.

"Since February 25, we have set up an outpatient screening unit at the CHU," explains Yann Bubien, director general of the hospital. Center 15 has been reinforced. All non-emergency surgical procedures have been postponed. And yesterday we set up a structure upstream of emergencies, an advanced medical post, to be able to welcome any patient who could be infected with coronavirus, so as to have an identified, specific path, and to avoid mixing patients within the emergency . "

Establishment of an advanced medical post upstream of the @CHUBordeaux Emergency Department to receive patients #coronavirus #COVID ー 19: a dedicated network to ensure the safety of all pic.twitter.com/nlO67UPE2D

The heads of department of the CHU all recognize their "luck" not to have suffered in New Aquitaine "the same wave as in other regions. And hope that this time in advance will have allowed us to prepare effectively.

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• Covid 19