No ICU admission of critically ill without patient, kin consent: Govt guidelines

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 2

The recent guidelines released by the Union Health Ministry on ICU admissions state the criteria to admit a patient to ICU should be based on organ failure and need for organ support or in anticipation of deterioration in the medical condition.

Norms compiled by 24 docs for hospitals

• ICU admission criteria be based on organ failure, need for organ support or deterioration in medical condition
• Low priority criteria in case of pandemic/disaster be taken into account for keeping a patient in ICU
• Those with a will or directive against ICU care shouldn’t be admitted

The guidelines, compiled by 24 doctors with expertise in critical care medicine working in different hospitals across the country, recommend that hospitals cannot admit critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) in case of refusal by them and their relatives.

It is futile to keep terminally ill patients on whom the treatment will not make an impact in the ICU. Besides, based on the assessment of resources during pandemic or disaster situations, the patients should be admitted to the ICU, the norms stipulate.

Altered level of consciousness of recent onset, need for respiratory support, patients with severe acute (or acute-on-chronic) illness requiring intensive monitoring and those who underwent major surgery and are at the risk of developing postoperative complications should be the criteria for admissions to the ICU.

According to the norms, blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, breathing pattern, heart rate, oxygen saturation, urine output and neurological status should be monitored in a patient awaiting an ICU bed.

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