Awake Prone Positioning in COVID-19 Patients
Prabhanjan Singh, Prerana Jain, Himanshu Deewan
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared SARS-CoV-2 as pandemic. Patients with COVID-19 present mainly with respiratory symptoms. Prone position has been traditionally used in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) to improve oxygenation and prevent barotrauma in ventilated patients. Awake proning is being used as an investigational therapy in COVID to defer invasive ventilation, improve oxygenation, and outcomes. Hence, we conducted a retrospective case study to look for benefits of awake proning with oxygen therapy in non-intubated COVID patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: > 95% and P/f > 200 mm Hg. Other COVID therapies were used according to institutional protocol. RESULTS: = 0.005). The difference was significant from day 1 to 10. Two patients were intubated. The mean duration of stay was 11 days. CONCLUSION: in COVID-19 patients with improvement in clinical symptoms with reduced rate of intubation. HIGHLIGHTS: Prone position ventilation improves oxygenation by reducing V/Q mismatch.Awake prone positioning has been used along with high-flow oxygen therapy in recent pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 virus for management of mild to moderate cases. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Singh P, Jain P, Deewan H. Awake Prone Positioning in COVID-19 Patients. Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(10):914-918.