Intensive care 20% occupied. 9 thousand doctors and nurses are missing

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If in the first wave of Covid it was a continuous race in search of ventilators to add ICU beds now, in the second, you are looking for resuscitators and anesthetists It’s in specialized nurses in an emergency to be used in the new positions that are laboriously being activated. A search that runs the risk of failure, however, given that there are very few white coats and specialized operators and, in fact, the calls for personnel – from Lazio to Lombardy – are deserted and we begin to look for the young people in training. or retired doctors.

We need (at least) 9 thousand operators

According to estimates of the need in resuscitation rooms, at least 9 thousand operators are needed to activate the 3,000 beds in intensive care which intends to add, thanks to the fans in the availability of Regions and Commissioner Arcuri, in the coming months athe 6960 activated until yesterday by Regions (there were 5,179 before Covid). Arcuri has so far distributed 3,159 ventilators and the Regions have used 1,781, with another 1,450 available: in total, therefore, another 2,828 beds can be added in the coming weeks.

But for them to leave you need a specialist doctor – (it can be lowered to 0.8) – and at least 2-3 nurses for each bed in intensive care: therefore 2 thousand-2500 doctors and about 67 thousand specialized nurses. “It is difficult if not impossible to find them and in fact some Regions more in difficulty such as Lombardy Campania and Puglia have also told me that they are blocking some resuscitation activities, those of other patients, to recover personnel”, warns Alessandro Vergallo, president of the Association of Anesthesiologists hospital rescuers.

In addition, train a specialist for these departments 10 years are needed between a medical degree and a specialization course and today we pay for the limited number and few scholarships to specialize in the past that have created a severe shortage of these physicians. As well as nurses.

Today in Italy 18 thousand rescuers and anesthetists

Today in Italy there are 18 thousand rescuers and anesthetists of which 12 thousand in public hospitals, those who have experienced the stress of the first wave. How to get out For Vergallo, firstly, “stabilize the precarious workers that still exist and then focus on apprentices, on 1200 fourth and fifth years, to be hired with simple procedures and fixed-term contracts and finally call retirees to send them for non-Covid resuscitation. In fact, the problem is that there are many other patients who must be hospitalized: from those who have had a serious accident to the victims of a myocardial infarction or even those who have had a delicate operation.