Descripción de los recursos en Cuidados Intensivos y Cuidados Intermedios gestionados por Anestesiología y Reanimación en España y su capacidad de adaptación durante la pandemia de la COVID-19

Introduction

It is essential to understand the strategic importance of intensive care resources in the sustainable organisation of healthcare systems. Our objective has been to identify the intensive and intermediate care beds managed by Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation Services (A-ICU and A-IMCU) in Spain, their human and technical resources, and the changes made to these resources during the COVID -19 pandemic.

Material and methods

Prospective observational study performed between December 2020 and July 2021 to register the number and characteristics of A-ICU and A-IMCU beds in hospitals listed in the catalogue published by the Spanish Ministry of Health.

Results

Data were obtained from 313 hospitals (98% of all hospitals with more than 500 beds, 70% of all hospitals with more than 100 beds). One hundred and forty seven of these hospitals had an A-ICU with a total of 1,702 beds. This capacity increased to 2,107 (124%) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three hundred and eight hospitals had an A-IMCU with a total of 3,470 beds, 52.9% (2,089) of which provided long-term care. The hospitals had 1,900 ventilators, at a ratio of 1.07 respirators per A-ICU; 1,559 anaesthesiologists dedicated more than 40% of their working time to intensive care. The nurse-to-bed ratio in A-ICUs was 2.8.

Discussion

A large proportion of fully-equipped ICU and IMCU beds in Spanish hospitals are managed by the anaesthesiology service. A-ICU and A-IMCUs have shown an extraordinary capacity to adapt their resources to meet the increased demand for intensive care during the COVID-19 pandemic.