Pulmonology Consultations in the ICU: Enhancing Outcomes for Respiratory Failure and ARDS Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Consultations with pulmonary physicians when a patient is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is crucial when dealing with respiratory failure or ARDS. These conditions are complex, have high morbidity and mortality rates, making them difficult for healthcare practitioners to handle. Respiratory failure consists of an inability of the respiratory system to maintain adequate gas exchange resulting in hypoxia or hypercapnia. ARDS is a severe form of ARF due to inflammation, reduced oxygenation, and damage to alveolar-capillary membranes by trauma, pneumonia, or other causes. Each of these conditions requires prompt attention and management. As a critical illness, both respiratory failure and ARDS may require additional care to improve the patient’s prognosis.
Aim of work: To explore the role of pulmonology consultations in improving outcomes for patients with respiratory failure and ARDS in the ICU.
Methods: We performed a comprehensive search in the MEDLINE database with the following search terms: Pulmonology, Consultations, ICU, Enhancing, Outcomes, Respiratory Failure, and ARDS Patients. The search was confined to publications from 2016 to 2024 to identify relevant information. We conducted a search on Google Scholar to identify and analyze scholarly publications relevant to my topic. The selection of articles was influenced by certain inclusion criteria.
Results: The publications analyzed in this study encompassed from 2016 to 2024. The study was structured into various sections with specific headings in the discussion section.
Conclusion: Pulmonology consultations in the ICU have been shown to reduce and improve the level of care and prognosis of patients with respiratory failure and ARDS. Such aspects include mechanical ventilation, pharmacological management, and innovative pulmonary techniques like ECMO and HFOV; outcome standardisation for the pulmonologists involve increased patient survival rate, low rate of complications and favourable long term prognosis. However, considerations, including restricted access to pulmonologists and collaboration problems, should be further discussed as obstacles to optimise potential advantages of pulmonology consultation in critical care. More to that, the employment of pulmonology specialty remains crucial for dealing with elaborate respiratory problems and optimization of ICU experiences when patients have RF and ARDS.