The second wave of COVID-19 saw a huge demand for intensive care because of the severity of the infection. This also led to an increase in demand for skilled manpower.
But, in view of the shortage of specialists and doctors with ICU skills, Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI) has found a new way to get skilled manpower for running its ICUs.
The college has got 118 junior doctors, who had been assigned rural service, for carrying out COVID-19 duties. These doctors, along with the final-year students of nursing, are being trained in ICU management. This arrangement is in place to overcome manpower shortage and because of the difficulty of getting specialists like pulmonologists and medicine experts despite the hospital offering an attractive salary of ₹2.5 lakh a month.
MMCRI is now training the junior doctors, nursing staff, and PG students in critical care management. Three batches are done with the training.
C.P. Nanjaraj, Dean of MMCRI, said the institute was trying this model to ease the crisis for the time being since getting doctors had become difficult. “By this way, we could address the shortage as the senior faculty available at MMCRI will be tele-guiding the doctors and nursing staff in managing ICU beds,” he said.
The MMCRI’s senior faculty is imparting the training on ICU management. “Alternatives have to be worked out when the situation warrants them. With reports of a possible third wave, we need to be prepared in advance and ICU training is one such step,” Dr. Nanjaraj said.
The training is on managing ICU beds, ventilators, oxygen flow, and so on. The hospitals have the task of handling both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. “Doctors attend to cases on rotation. With limited numbers, we are managing the situation using the available specialist doctors shuttling from one hospital to another. By training doctors and nursing staff on ICU management, we could ease the situation.”
The medical equipment manufacturers were suggested to come up with “tele ICU” facilities ahead of the third wave for critical care monitoring as faculty could monitor the ICUs on their smartphones and guide the on-duty nursing staff. On the advice of many experts, the outgoing students of MBBS were also trained in ICU management as a readiness strategy.
The MMCRI had set aside 77 ventilators at K.R. Hospital, 10 at the trauma care, and seven at the super-speciality hospital for COVID-19 patients in the last wave. It had an equal number of ventilators for non-COVID-19 care.
