Rinat Akhmetov Foundation purchased 200 modern lung ventilators for state hospitals in Ukraine. The first batch of equipment will be transferred to support clinics in the near future. Along with this, the Foundation pays great attention to preparing doctors for working with these ventilators. Therefore, together with the Ministry of Health, the Association of Anesthetists of Ukraine and the Ministry of Digital Development, an educational project has been created. The online series “How Lung Ventilators Work” has already been released and is made publicly available. A series of webinars also began, where leading Ukrainian experts tell doctors throughout the country about the nuances of COVID treatment and the use of lung ventilators to save patients with severe complications.
At the first online conference, much attention was paid to treatment regimens for severe patients. According to experts, lungs ventilation in the struggle for the life and health of such patients is of utmost importance.
– If the patient to whom it is indicated is not transferred to lungs ventilation, he will definitely die. Moreover, he will die within a very short period of time, – said Yuri Kuchin, Professor, First Vice-Rector of NMU named after A.A. Bogomolets during the webinar.
According to the expert, one of the main tasks of doctors is to recognize in time the need to transfer the patient to lungs ventilation:
– Respiratory failure does not necessarily occur right away. The first week can happen so that the patient does not even need oxygen therapy; he just has a high temperature. But if the disease progresses, in this case there is a need first for additional oxygenation, which at first can be provided by a simple addition of oxygen. However, later, other support paths are needed.
The myth that lungs ventilation could kill a patient was revealed at the conference. All lecturers agreed that this is not true, and hypoxia, not lungs ventilation, can lead to death. Still, lungs ventilation can have negative health effects.
– We have to transfer the patient to artificial ventilation when we cannot provide gas exchange by less invasive methods. The main thing is to maintain a balance between ensuring gas exchange for the patient and at the same time not harming the lungs, – explained Yuri Kuchin.
The expert also said that lungs ventilation should be used with great care:
– Lungs ventilation is a method of prosthetics of vital functions, and not a treatment for COVID-19. Indication for use is respiratory failure, which potentially threatens the patient’s life. If invasive ventilation is delayed, the patient will die.
Sergey Dubrov, Professor of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care in NMU named after A.A. Bogomolets, President of the Association of Anesthesiologists of Ukraine said that all patients with COVID who had undergone lungs ventilation need rehabilitation; although in none of the cases did ventilation of the lungs lead to deep disability:
– Patients need a rehabilitation period with physical exercises and general rehabilitation methods.
The professor emphasized: in order to avoid pneumothorax, it is necessary to use modern lung ventilators.
– Adequate equipment is needed, not “Novator” or “Breeze”, but really lung ventilators that “feel” the patient, – said Sergey Dubrov.
200 lung ventilators purchased by Rinat Akhmetov Foundation meet the highest standards of medical assistance. The technical capabilities of the equipment make it possible to use it in any clinical situations – both in intensive care units and emergency departments. They are suitable for all treatment regimens (controlled, supportive, invasive and non-invasive ventilation) for both adults and children. After the end of the coronavirus epidemic, the ventilators will save patients with other diseases that make breathing difficult. However, so far experts do not risk making predictions about the possible duration of the epidemic.
– Such an epidemic has befallen humanity for the first time in its entire existence. There were large-scale deadly epidemics, but there never was a pandemic that spread with such a population – eight and a half billion inhabitants. Especially with such a possibility of migration. “The virus is constantly mutating, and absolutely no one knows what to do with this yet,” said Olga Golubovskaya, Professor, the Honored Doctor of Ukraine, head of the Department of Infectious Diseases of NMU named after A.A. Bogomolets.
The video of the first online conference can be viewed HERE.