Respiratory Institute Outcomes

In 2018, multiple institutes (Heart Vascular Thoracic, Anesthesia, and Respiratory institutes) collaborated to develop a multidisciplinary medical ECMO team. The goal was to provide multidisciplinary care to patients with life-threatening cardio-respiratory failure in whom conventional ventilatory and adjunctive medical therapies were unsuccessful. The medical ECMO team provides expertise in veno-venous ECMO. The program provides 24/7 interdisciplinary consultation for the triage of complex referrals for ECMO transfer eligibility (local, regional, national, and international). ECMO survivors are followed up in a post ECMO outpatient clinic to address physical, cognitive, and psychosomatic impairments. During the COVID-19 pandemic the ECMO specialists exclusively cared for some of the sickest patients with refractory lung failure and helped facilitate appropriate transition to ECMO.