Authors: Yonatan Mehari Andemeskel, Michael Beraki Mengistu, Betiel Yihdego Kidanemariam, Michal Haile Tsegay.
The pandemic outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has challenged medical professionals and clinicians globally. It is the third infectious disease to happen in the past two decades. With the spread and pandemicity of COVID-19, medical practitioners, hospital administrators, governments, policy makers, researchers have been involved in fighting the disease and saving the lives of people. Despite its contagious features, the very rapid spread of the disease has forced clinicians to manage the disease without evidence-based guidelines. From anesthesia and critical point of view, several consensuses have been generated on the anesthetic management of covid-19 patients based on expert opinions and existing data about the disease. This review tries to focus on the collective overview of the challenges and key recommendations for the anesthesia and critical points which are spread during the perioperative anesthetic management period while caring patients with suspected or confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease made after reviewing literatures available. Several recommendations have been made for the system of isolation and management of patients and it may vary from place to place depending upon the local
practices and resource availability. The recommendation has been continually changed and updated as more is still being known about the disease.