Anesthesia in the emergency surgery patient during the COVID -19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction. The disease produced by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, due to its great contagion power, has spread to much of the world, becoming a pandemic, with fatal consequences; It has represented a great challenge for health systems, with a negative impact, which has led to the collapse of these systems in several countries. Given the emergence of the first case of COVID-19 in Cuba, it became necessary to adapt and reorganize the anesthesiological care of patients in the different services. Methods. The established anesthesiological conduct is presented for patients undergoing surgery, in an urgent or emergent manner at the Surgical Medical Research Center in the period from March 11, 2020 to January 31, 2021. Results. The strategy established to guarantee the safe care of patients and the protection of health personnel in emergency surgery care is described; The organizational parameters for the care of the patient with surgical pathology, both elective and emergency, are presented; care is established in accordance with the recommendations and action protocol established by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) and the direction of the Center for Surgical Medical Research. Conclusions. The anesthetic procedure and the established action protocol contributed to the fact that all patients with emergency surgical pathologies were operated on with satisfactory results, as well as the safety of the unit's health personnel was guaranteed.