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Review
. 2022 Oct;38(4):639-656.
doi: 10.1016/j.ccc.2022.06.008.

Essential Emergency and Critical Care: A Priority for Health Systems Globally

Dabota Yvonne Buowari  1 , Christian Owoo  2 , Lalit Gupta  3 , Carl Otto Schell  4 , Tim Baker  5 ; EECC Network Group
Affiliations
Review

Essential Emergency and Critical Care: A Priority for Health Systems Globally

Dabota Yvonne Buowari et al. Crit Care Clin. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Critical illness is a state of ill health with vital organ dysfunction, a high risk of imminent death if care is not provided, and the potential for reversibility. An estimated 45 million adults become critically ill each year. While some are treated in emergency departments or intensive care units, most are cared for in general hospital wards. We outline a priority for health systems globally: the first-tier care that all critically ill patients should receive in all parts of all hospitals: Essential Emergency and Critical Care. We describe its relation to other specialties and care and opportunities for implementation.

Keywords: Critical care; Emergency care; Essential health services; Global health; Low- and middle-income countries; Quality of care.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure C. Owoo declares consultancy fees from the WHO, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Sanofi, and conference support from Frusenius Kabi, Sanofi and Pfizer, all outside the submitted work. T. Baker declares personal fees from the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Bank, USAID, and the Wellcome Trust, all outside the submitted work. All authors are members of the EECC Network Group. The authors declare no other commercial or financial conflicts of interest.