Background Globally, critical illness results in millions of deaths every year. Although many of these deaths are potentially preventable, the basic, life-saving care of critically ill patients are often overlooked in health systems. Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) has been devised as the care that should be provided to all critically ill patients in all hospitals in the world. EECC includes the effective care of low cost and low complexity for the identification and treatment of critically ill patients across all medical specialties. This study aimed to specify the content of EECC and additionally, given the surge of critical illness in the ongoing pandemic, the essential diagnosis-specific care for critically ill patients with COVID-19. Methods In a Delphi process, consensus (>90% agreement) was sought from a diverse panel of global clinical experts. The panel iteratively rated proposed treatments and actions based on previous guidelines and the WHO/ICRC’s Basic Emergency Care. The output from the Delphi was adapted iteratively with specialist reviewers into a coherent and feasible package of clinical processes plus a list of hospital readiness requirements. Results The 269 experts in the Delphi panel had clinical experience in different acute medical specialties from 59 countries and from all resource settings. The agreed EECC package contains 40 clinical processes and 67 requirements, plus additions specific for COVID-19. Conclusion The study has specified the content of care that should be provided to all critically ill patients. Implementing EECC could be an effective strategy for policy makers to reduce preventable deaths worldwide. All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.

中文翻译：

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基本急诊和重症监护：全球临床专家的共识


背景 在全球范围内，危重疾病每年导致数百万人死亡。尽管其中许多死亡是可以预防的，但卫生系统往往忽视危重患者的基本救生护理。基本急诊和危重症护理 (EECC) 旨在为世界上所有医院的所有危重患者提供护理。 EECC 包括为所有医学专业的危重患者的识别和治疗提供低成本、低复杂性的有效护理。本研究旨在明确 EECC 的内容，此外，考虑到当前大流行中危重疾病的激增，针对 COVID-19 危重患者的基本诊断特异性护理。方法 在德尔菲法过程中，从全球不同的临床专家小组中寻求共识（>90% 的一致性）。该小组根据之前的指导方针和世界卫生组织/红十字国际委员会的基本紧急护理，对拟议的治疗和行动进行了反复评估。德尔菲的输出经过专家评审员的反复调整，形成一个连贯且可行的临床流程包以及医院准备要求列表。结果 Delphi 小组中的 269 名专家拥有来自 59 个国家和所有资源环境的不同急症医学专业的临床经验。商定的 EECC 包包含 40 个临床流程和 67 项要求，以及针对 COVID-19 的附加内容。结论 该研究明确了所有危重患者应提供的护理内容。实施 EECC 可能是政策制定者减少全球可预防死亡的有效策略。与研究相关的所有数据都包含在文章中或作为补充信息上传。