An evidence-based nursing care guide for critically ill patients with covid-19: A scoping review

Nursing care plays a vital role in critically ill patients’ recovery process and outcome with COVID-19. Though there is a tremendous surge in COVID-19 literature, there is no comprehensive documentation of nursing aspects.

To develop nursing care standards for critically ill patients with COVID-19.

To prepare this scoping review, a detailed literature review was done by the experts and trainers involved in the critical care of patients with COVID-19 from India's premier institutes.

Rapidly progressing hypoxemia with respiratory failure induced by COVID-19 in critically ill patients poses a management challenge. Patients of COVID-19 progressing to critical stage must be identified early, and appropriate management initiated while taking all the specific measures to prevent infection to the healthcare providers. The essential components of critically ill patients’ nursing care include constant monitoring and maintenance of ventilation, oxygenation, fluid volume/hemodynamic status, and shock prevention. The other adjunctive measures include meeting the nutritional demands, prevention, early identification of complications, timely initiation of rehabilitation, and personal and environmental hygiene. Ensuring the safety of the healthcare providers with adequate PPE and infection control measures is of utmost importance while caring for the patients of COVID-19.

The nursing interventions must be tailored vigilantly for the individual patient. The evidence is evolving, and the nursing care strategies discussed in this article based on existing evidence may guide the nurses and healthcare providers in managing critically ill patients of COVID-19.