Table 2 Accommodating ICU bed capacities to face a rapid surge of patients
| Â | Available means | Challenges and limiting factors |
|---|---|---|
LOCAL LEVEL | ||
Coordination | • Identify and reduce non-essential activities | • Risk of delays in management and worsened outcome of non-epidemic patients |
|  | • Preplanned crisis and activity continuation plan | • Intrahospital cooperation with medical leadership • Allocation of staffing resources according to their qualifications |
Increasing ICU capacity | • Repurposing of other critical beds | • Continuation of non-epidemic activity |
|  | • Repurposing of non-ICU beds - operating rooms - emergency departments - regular wards | • Need for trained staffing resources • Need for medical devices and equipments • Monitor patients’ safety |
|  | • Creation of ephemeral beds in new locations |  |
REGIONAL & NATIONAL LEVEL | ||
Dispatch patients to avoid overwhelmed hospitals | • Real-time follow-up of available beds | • Uniformization of applications among centers • Manpower to fill registries in real-time |
|  | • Inter-hospital transfer - intra-regional - inter-regional - international | • Safe transportation of critically ill patients • Human resources |