Introduction: The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 has resulted in rapid surge of critically ill patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and developed COVID-19 pneumonia being presented to the emergency department and requiring admission to the ICU at hospitals worldwide. This sudden influx has threatened to overwhelm the healthcare system at multiple areas and led to intensive care unit (ICU) crowding and emergency department (ED) boarding ‘phenomenon’.
Case Report: Emergency and Trauma Department Hospital Sungai Buloh started to receive a rapid influx of COVID-19 patients in the beginning of May 2021. Despite numerous attempts made by hospital’s administrative team to acutely expand inpatient critical care capacity during this pandemic, we faced ICU bed and ICU staff shortages and led to critically ill COVID-19 patients boarding in our ED. To address this scenario, we designed and operationalised a temporary “Essential Emergency and Critical Care†(EECC) patient care service in our department.
Discussion: Implementation of EECC patient care service encompasses assimilation and adaptation of critical care treatment and monitoring, implementation of daily “Consultant†rounds, tenacious bedside and online critical care teaching, procurement of critical assets and interdisciplinary cooperation as part of the strategy of unplanned surges in critical care demand. The traditional model of intensive care management was further improved with the provision of immediate ‘bedside’ diagnostic and therapeutic interventions continuously in the ED setting.
Conclusion: We present a novel potential solution to the acutely increased demand for critical care resources experienced by hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key words: COVID-19, ED boarding, Essential Emergency and Critical Care
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