According to the latest data from Public Health France, 4,690 patients are hospitalized on Tuesday in France because of the coronavirus epidemic. And 399 are in intensive care. Unlike the patients of last spring, those of the first wave, patients today benefit from the experience accumulated by doctors for nearly six months. So much so that their care has evolved ... for the better. According to the epidemiologist and member of the scientific council, Arnaud Fontanet, the risk for a patient to switch to intensive care has even been halved.
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First reason, doctors now give corticosteroids to those diagnosed positive and more specifically dexamethasone. All patients on respiratory assistance benefit because "this drug has shown its value in reducing the progression to severe forms of intensive care or to death for patients already in intensive care", explains Bruno Mégarbane, head of the intensive care unit at the Lariboisière hospital in Paris.
High flow oxygenation, less dangerous and less aggressive
Then, the nursing staff intubate the patients in a less systematic way. They are now using another technique called high flow oxygenation. Contrary to what they feared on the one hand, the latter is less dangerous for caregivers and, on the other hand, it is less aggressive for patients. Eric Maury, professor of intensive care-intensive care at Saint-Antoine hospital in Paris, details that with this "strategy", "we do not need to lull patients or sedate them". "It is a strategy which makes it possible to put fewer patients on artificial ventilation", he adds.
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Finally, the last reason, the doctors also understood why some patients, during the first wave, died suddenly in intensive care. The formation of blood clots caused pulmonary embolism. Today, the nursing staff is anticipating by giving anticoagulants to all patients in intensive care.