A Proposed New Mnemonic (ABCDE-FFFF) for the Management of Critically Ill Patients in a Low-Resource Setting

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the world’s attention to the difficulty of suddenly being confronted with a large number of critically ill patients such that the health care system is overwhelmed. There is tension between doing what is best for the individual patient and doing what is best for the community at large [1-5]. High-Income Countries (HIC) are rarely faced with such dilemmas. On the other hand, Low-and-Middle Income Countries (LMICs) face chronic shortages of health care workers, supplies, and other resources. Whether natural or man-made, including the current coronavirus pandemic, disasters make it imperative that LMICs develop strategies to deal with such situations since they will likely be left to fend for themselves with little or no outside help.