All around the world, acutely ill and injured people seek care every day. First contact health workers manage children and adults with medical, surgical and obstetric emergencies, including injuries, sepsis, heart attacks and strokes, asthma and acute complications of pregnancy.
Many proven health interventions are time dependent. Emergency care is an integrated platform for delivering accessible, quality and time-sensitive health care services for acute illness and injury across the life course. Integrated emergency care services facilitate timely recognition, treatment management and, when needed, continued treatment of the acutely ill at the appropriate level of the health system.
Critical care is an ongoing, intensive treatment provided to patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries that require close, constant monitoring and support. Care is typically delivered in critical care units (e.g. intensive care units or high dependency units). Critically ill patients often need advanced medical equipment and therapies, intravenous medications to support heart function or blood pressure, and continuous monitoring of vital signs.
Over half of deaths and over a third of disability in low- and middle-income countries could be addressed by the implementation of effective emergency and critical care. Prioritizing an integrated approach to early recognition, resuscitation, treatment and prevention of complications from acute conditions reduces the morbidity and mortality from a wide range of diseases across the life course.
World Health Organization
