Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena

Abstract

At the beginning of the new millennium the Nobel prize Joshua Lederberg, discussing the war against viruses, declared " it is our intelligence against their genes". We can summarize the crisis that started in 2019 and that man is dealing with even now. In a globalised and interconnected world, Sars-CoV-2 virus has been able to spread, transforming an epidemic into a pandemic. The infection has challenged the national health system, requiring a big disposal of medical personnel, equipment and supplies. The viral pneumonia caused by Sars- CoV-2 is especially aggressive on a certain type of patient, with a high level of morbidity, which makes the medical case deteriorate quickly. Lately, with these kind of patients, it has been made full use of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), or artificial membrane lung. ECMO, developed in the past decades, is an invasive technique that offers a mechanical system support to the respiratory and cardiocirculatory function. It is regarded as a Rescue Therapy, recommended for acute and severe conditions of breathing and/or heart failure with a high risk of mortality, when all other traditional treatments have proved useless. The haemodynamic support can be partial or total, inserted by arterial and venous vascular accesses. It is based on the principles of the Extra Corporeal Circulation extended with the use of the artificial membrane lung. The daily nursing activities are essential for patients with ECMO within an intensive care unit because it has to do with clinically unstable patients. The nursing care involves an accurate head to toe examination, in order to check the right functioning of organs, combined with a meticulous and complete nursing plan.