Abstract

FERRER, Leopoldo et al. Alternatives for sedation, analgesia, neuromuscular blockade and delirium in patients with COVID-19. A narrative review. Med. crít. (Col. Mex. Med. Crít.) [online]. 2022, vol.36, n.5, pp.296-311.  Epub June 02, 2023. ISSN 2448-8909.  https://doi.org/10.35366/106512.

In recent years, the entire world has been faced with the management of patients with a totally new and challenging pathology in terms of its pathophysiological understanding and management strategies, while its rate of infection was increased significantly. It is the COVID-19 disease, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and that put all of humanity on alert. Therefore, major public health problems arose, including shortages of medicines and first-line resources for disease control, and in critical patients, optimal support management was affected as the complex immune response was overcome, which ended up affecting the lung parenchymal in its early stages, and depending on the physiological, morbid and genetic state of the host, generating multiple organ dysfunction. This document establishes the best alternatives to face a shortage of medications associated with the comprehensive approach to analgesia and sedation, prevention and management of delirium and withdrawal, and the need for neuromuscular relaxation in each of the phases that critically hospitalized patients go through in Intensive Care Units with invasive or non-invasive respiratory support.

Keywords : Sedation; analgesia; delirium; COVID-19; pandemic; shortages; SARS-CoV-2.