Recent study proves that evolution of Intensive Care Unit or critical care and anaesthesiology has taken place over the years. When one deals with the severe malady of the patients; the other acts as a remedy for the smooth flow of the surgery to happen. A further deep insight into the field of advancement in the critical care units and anaesthesia in Asia is provided below.
What is Critical Care Unit (CCU) ?
Critical care unit in hospitals or intensive therapy unit is a special department in hospitals where patients with very serious problems are treated.
An ICU (Intensive Care Unit) is a dedicated place within a hospital with specialized medical care, enhanced capacity for monitoring, well organized system for the provision of supervision to critically ill patients. However, the meaning for critical beds is different for different regions. The other term that comes with CCU is IMCU (Intermediate Care Unit).
One of the most startling mechanism which needs to be highlighted is “ventilation”. Ventilators are machines that helps in the pumping of oxygen into the body. The ventilator is set to take certain number of breaths per minute. With the revolution in the new era, the treatment facilities has improvised a lot.
Now ICUs are classified into various departments for the proper and rapid treatment; such as-neuroscience ICU, medicine ICU and so on.
Critical Care Unit vs Anesthesia
Medical science has also shown advancements on the grounds of surgeries. Here bangs the topic of “anesthesia” or rather its study- “anesthesiology”.
With the increasing population, the grant for surgeries is rising day by day. This throws a greater impact on anesthetic drugs. Increase in investments, research and development in anesthetics, has resulted in greater market growth and increased anesthesiology jobs.
The function of anesthesia is to numb the part of the body which needs to be operated. Based on its function it is widely classified into various types such as-general anesthesia, regional anesthesia/ local anesthesia and epidural anesthesia.
Local Anesthesia is used in minor surgeries, Epidural Anesthesia is injected into the epidural space around the spine and General Anesthesia is a combination of intravenous drugs and inhaled gases (anesthetics) which is used to put a patient in a sleep-like state before a surgery.
Intensive Care Unit Statistics
Firstly let us put some light on the statistical analysis of critical care beds in Asia with the total population of 3 billion (approx.). This works out to be 3.6 critical care beds per 100,000 population.
The number of critical beds per 100,000 population is lower in low-income and lower-middle-income economies than in upper-middle-income and high-income economies.
According to research more critical beds are found in public sector than in private. However, there’s always lies an exception to everything; like for countries-Bangladesh, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan and Nepal. The number of critical care beds per 100,000 population in some countries are highlighted – India(2.3), Bangladesh(0.7), Iran(4.6), China(3.6), Japan(7.3), Taiwan(28.5). Numbers in few places like Bangladesh has ranged from 0.7 to 28.5 for Taiwan.
Now coming to the statistical report of anesthesiology in Asia, in 2015, the anesthetic monitoring devices market size was valued as USD 808.7 million. According to reports, the plastic surgery case are increasing with years and assumptions are made that it will increase more 22 percent by 2050.
Now coming to number of anesthesiologists in some countries of Asia like in China it is 5.12 anesthesiologists per 100,000 patients, in Thailand it is 2.45 per 100,000 patients and in India it is 1.26 per 100,000 patients. Along with this, it is also proven that there are also chances in the huge expansion of anesthetic drugs by the end of 2025.
Anesthesiology Conferences 2021
In the past few years, the national and international medical bodies have focused more on Anesthesiology study and research. Every year more than 50 critical care conferences including National and International Conferences are conducted and despite ongoing COVID 19 pandemic this number is going to cross in 2021.
The Intensive Care Unit Conference, World Critical Care and Anesthesiology Conference in Bangkok, The Annual Scientific Congress 2021 (Virtual) by Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists are few of the prestigious conferences being organised in 2021.
RECENT TRENDS IN CRITICAL CARE AND ANESTHESIOLOGY
Weight-based table used to select the proper sized ProSeal Laryngeal Mask Airway (PLMA) is not always dependable. A simple, accurate alternative process is needed in clinical practise. On comparing the auricle size of 102 pediatric patients with a based method; it is used to select appropriate size of the ProSeal Laryngeal Mask Airway(PLMA). The auricle based PLMA method of selecting size is feasible when a clinical situation demands an alternative method.
Shortage in Caritical Care Unit beds during COVID 19 Pandemic
The critical care beds are in high demand at this time of pandemic. The Covid 19 patients are admitted in these beds especially the aged victims of Covid 19. Government has increased the number of critical care beds in most of the hospitals in order to strife against the pandemic. The grants for ICUs was seen highest in 2020 in the month of June, July, August and September.
Although the graph drastically increased for the critical care beds but the same demand for anesthesia was not seen in such. However, that doesn’t mean it was not in sight. As it is said earlier surgeries took place over and over again, in which anesthesia drugs always plays the most important role.
Earlier because of no such growths in medicine people didn’t get proper treatment and often faced deaths, but now the young minds are continuously working for the enhancements in various fields. Medical science, latest research and Anesthesiology Courses, driven by technology is bringing new trends to this, it’s not only about critical care growth or anesthesiology but it’s about the overall growth or outrage in the process of medical science that has rendered a helping hand to humanity throughout the continent.