Ventilation and intensive care therapy for COVID-19

In the second year of the pandemic, the acute therapy of COVID-19 patients has become part of everyday clinical practice, but we still don't have an evidence-based routine. Media reports discuss the new risks of the pandemic and potential limitations of intensive care treatment for patients with COVID-19 every day. While calls for additional ventilators and intensive care beds have nearly ceased, the task of ensuring the adequate availability of physicians and nurses with extensive experience in caring for ventilated patients has not become any easier. Accordingly, there is a need to use medical and nursing staff with no or little experience in intensive care. New findings, updated guidelines and pathophysiological insights have made it necessary to revise and expand the first edition. This second edition was written for clinicians from other medical fields as well as for experienced intensive care professionals such as nurses, physicians and respiratory therapists. The combination of directly applicable standard operating procedures (SOP) and supplemental information aims to provide solutions for critical care in difficult times. In their effort to strike a balance between current intensive care knowhow, the large number of COVID-19 patients and the inhomogeneous target group, the authors have compiled the most relevant diagnostic steps and measures. This manual is not intended to replace textbooks or guidelines, and the authors do not describe a singular path to good intensive care. Rather, they offer a broad spectrum of intensive care practices with a clear focus on ventilation therapy in the form of easily readable algorithms.