Study of the Increase in ICU Beds Capacity and Caregivers During COVID-19 Pandemic in France : the FRENCH ICU Study

Since December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease has caused a worldwide outbreak of respiratory illness that rapidly invaded leading the world (WHO). Its most severe form is dominated by an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with other organ failures requiring mechanical ventilation and admission in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). With a wide pandemic effect and a long length of mechanical ventilation, the intensive care units were quickly full.

For preventing the overwhelming of ICU beds capacity, national and regional Health-Care institutions (then French Health minister, every Regional Health) decided to optimize the Intensive Care Unit beds availability by opening new ICU beds in institutions with and without prior ICU.

Daily ICU beds availability was assessed in each institution, and at the regional level to organize potential patient transfers across regional and national hospital. Moreover, an extraordinary mobilization and joint efforts of medical, paramedical and administrative staff allowed getting the caregivers for managing the most severe patients in each ICU. All physicians who could manage ICU patients were involved in this crisis. In this context, anesthesiologists (who have gotten an ICU education during their studies) were involved, as the surgical activity has been reduced to the vital procedures. This overall organization permitted the admission of more patients than the initial maximum national capacity of ICU beds.