Thomas Bice, MD, MSc, assistant professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine, discusses the use of ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic and their lasting effects on patients which can lead to post-intensive care syndrome.
鈥淭here are two groups of patients who end up with mechanical ventilation. The majority are on a ventilator for an average of four or five days,鈥� says Bice in a new article. 鈥淭he second group is people who require it for 10 to 14 days or more.鈥�
The article recognizes that the second group of patients often have severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which occurs when fluid builds up in the lungs and prevents them from filling with enough air. Breathing becomes difficult and oxygen cannot get to vital organs.
People with聽 who end up in the hospital ICU often fall into this second category. 鈥淭hose patients tend to have a longer course of mechanical ventilation,鈥� Bice says. 鈥淪o this is a disease that seems to take a longer time to recover from.鈥�
Read the article .