Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2025

An Educational Video Demonstration of How to Prone a Critically Ill Intubated Patient
Published on: November 30, 2022
Who is going to turn on the ventilators?
Marcelo Cunio Machado Fonseca1, Gabriela Tannus Branco de Araújo1, Fulvio Alexandre Scorza1
1Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Objective:
To analyze the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, a continental-sized country, considered as an emerging economy but with several regional nuances, focusing on the availability of human resources, especially for intensive care units.
Methods:
The database of the National Registry of Health Facilities was accessed. Healthcare professionals in the care of COVID-19 were georeferenced. We correlated the number of professionals with the parameters used by the World Health Organization. According to the Brazilian Intensive Care Medicine Association, we correlated the data for adult intensive care unit beds in each state with the number of professionals for each ten intensive care unit beds. The number of professionals, beds, and cases were then organized by state.
Results:
The number of physicians per 100 thousand inhabitants followed the World Health Organization recommendations; however, the number of nurses did not. The number of intensivists, registered nurses, nurse technicians specialized in intensive care, and respiratory therapists, necessary for every ten intensive care beds, was not enough for any of these professional categories. A complete team of critical care specialists was available for 10% of intensive care unit beds in Brazil.
Conclusion:
There is a shortage of professionals for intensive care unit, as we demonstrated for Brazil. Intensive care physical resources to be efficiently used require extremely specialized human resources; therefore, planning human resources is just as crucial as planning physical and structural resources.
Related Concept Videos
Mechanical Ventilation II: Invasive Ventilation
Negative-Pressure Ventilators
Negative-pressure ventilators create a vacuum around the chest or body to draw air into the lungs, simulating breathing. This method does not require an...
Mechanical Ventilation I: Indication and Settings
Ventilatory Modes
There are three ventilatory modes: full support, partial support, and spontaneous. These are described below.
Full Support Modes
Full support modes include controlled mechanical ventilation, continuous mandatory...
Mechanical Ventilation III: Noninvasive Ventilation
Noninvasive Positive-Pressure Ventilation...
Factors Affecting Pulmonary Ventilation
Alveolar Surface Tension
The alveolar fluid lines the luminal surface of the alveoli and exerts a force called surface tension. This force is caused by the polar water molecules in the liquid being more strongly attracted to each...
Administering Oxygen by Mask
Administering oxygen by mask is a common nursing intervention that provides supplemental oxygen to patients with respiratory distress or chronic lung conditions. This procedure involves delivering oxygen at a specified rate through a face mask connected to an oxygen source.
Equipment
The equipment necessary for this procedure includes:

