Feedback on French Emergency Medical Transports of COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

At the end of February 2020, French emergency physicians were faced with a new and complex situation in the management of critical cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection. First information from China and the initial recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) quickly led us to consider early intubation and mechanical ventilation of patients with hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia. However, since the end of March 2020, feedback from Italian intensive care and emergency physicians, then Spanish, led to change in clinical practices and guidelines about oxygenation and mechanical or noninvasive ventilation of COVID-19 patients have evolved. The exceptional character of this pandemic and the great adaptability of French pre-hospital emergency medical services (Samu/Smur) in a few weeks, to manage those oxygen dependent patients, justified our feedback, especially because we are exposed to a risk of resurgence of serious short-term SARS-CoV-2-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which could once again saturate our health system. We therefore detail here the feedback of pre-hospital medical care, mainly concerning the management of oxygenation and ventilation supports.