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The care that should be provided to all critically ill patients in all hospitals in the world

Effective lifesaving actions of low cost and complexity

Critical illness results in millions of deaths each year. Care for those with critical illness is often neglected due to a lack of prioritisation, co-ordination, and coverage of timely identification and basic life-saving treatments. Critically ill patients are cared for in units for intensive, intermediate and emergency care – as well as in hospital wards.

EECC – essential emergency and critical care – is the care that all critically ill patients should receive in all hospitals in the world. EECC consists of 40 pragmatic and low-cost treatment and actions, such as triage, monitoring, patient positioning, oxygen and iv. fluids, and has the potential to improve care and substantially reduce preventable mortality.

EECC should be part of universal health coverage, is appropriate for all countries in the world, and is intended for patients irrespective of age, gender, underlying diagnosis, medical specialty, or location in the hospital.”

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Consensus around content in EECC

269 experts with clinical experience in different acute medical specialties from 59 countries and from all resource settings have recently reached consensus on 40 clinical processes and 67 hospital readiness requirements needed for the identification and care of critically ill patients.

About EECC

Developing and increasing coverage of EECC has the potential to improve care for critically ill patients in hospitals throughout the world and substantially reduce preventable mortality. Care in EECC is:

Effective

Established or proven to be safe and to reduce mortality.

Universal

Supports vital organ function rather than being the definitive care of a diagnosis.

Feasible

Low-cost and low complexity. Possible to provide in a low-staffed, low-resourced setting without the immediate presence of a doctor.

Publications

Scientific publications

Scientific publications related to EECC

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Statements

Dar 2022 Consensus Statement

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Blogs

Blogs about EECC

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EECC Online Training

The EECC Network, in collaboration with the Learning Resource Centre at Stanford University, has online EECC Training. The accredited training is for all bedside providers to be able to recognize critical illness, respond rapidly, and rescue patients from life-threatening decompensation through the provision of EECC. By the end of this course, learners should be able to…

  • Understand what EECC IS and what EECC IS NOT
  • Be able to identify critical illness using vital signs and physical assessments
  • Provide appropriate first-step essential care to critically ill patients
  • Communicate effectively and in a timely manner with other care team members

Projects

A continent wide study that will investigate the prevalence of critical illness, the provision of EECC to critically ill patients and their outcome.

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Essential Emergency and Critical Care in Tanzania (EECCiT) is an 18-month program for the implementation of EECC in health facilities in Tanzania. It is a collaboration between the government of the United Republic of Tanzania, UNICEF and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. EECCiT will include implementation research, impact assessments, and health economic work alongside the implementation of EECC.

The Critical Illness and Sepsis Prevalence and Outcomes Study in Malawi, Sri Lanka and Sweden is investigating adults with critical illness and sepsis, their care and outcomes.

The Provision of Essential Treatment in Critical Illness project is a collaboration between institutions in Kenya, Tanzania, UK and Sweden to investigate critical care approaches including economic analysis, health facility assessments, surveys and in-depth interviews of front-line health-workers and stakeholders, with the goal of influencing policy and improving the quality of critical care.

The Vital Signs Directed Therapy is a protocol for task-sharing the identification and essential treatment of critically ill patients among health workers in hospitals. In one setting where VSDT was introduced, emergency actions for severely deranged vital signs increased from 23% to 73% and the mortality rate for patients with low blood pressure was reduced from 92% to 69%. Two years later, the implementation was sustained.

A scoping review and concept analysis of the definitions of the terms Critical Illness and Critical Care.

Contact our team

Contact our team for questions and more information.

Join the EECC network

The EECC Network is a Community of Practice of clinicians, researchers, policy makers and the public who want to improve the care of critically ill patients throughout the world. The Network will share experiences and insights, keep us all updated and alerted about opportunities for implementation and knowledge generation to work towards the vision “no one should die in hospital of a cause that EECC could prevent” There is no cost and no obligation to joining.

Data protection information

If you are interested in joining the EECC network, please fill in your details here.  The identifying information you provide will be stored in a password protected, encrypted file, only accessed by the network administrators. The information will only be used to contact you for purposes related to the network. The information will not be shared with any third-parties. The information will be stored for 5years, and at that point, you will be asked if you would like to remain in the network. If you choose to withdraw, or do not respond, your information will be permanently deleted.

Application form

The EECC Network

The non-profit EECC Network is an informal and independent global community-of-practice of clinicians, researchers, policy makers and others interested in Essential Emergency and Critical Care. The Network is open to anyone who is actively engaged in or simply curious about providing and improving the care of critically ill patients anywhere in the world.

In the EECC Network we will share experiences and insights, stay updated and alerted about developments and findings in the field, share opportunities for implementation and knowledge generation and work together towards the vision that “no one should die in hospital of a cause that EECC could prevent”.

The EECC Network has been started by a group of clinicians, researchers and policy makers following the development of the EECC concept over the past few years. EECC-related projects have been carried out or are ongoing in high-income, middle-income and low-income countries, and many additional projects are planned…

Dr Carl Otto Schell MD

Consultant Physician, Researcher
Dept of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland, Uppsala University, Sweden
Department of Medicine, Nyköpings Hospital, Sweden
carl.schell@ki.se

Dr Karima Khalid MBBS

Consultant in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Lecturer
Muhimbili University of Health & Allied Sciences, Tanzania
Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute, Tanzania
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania
karimakhalid@yahoo.com

Mr Raphael Kazidule Kayambankadzanja BSc

Intensive Care Nurse, Researcher
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi
Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi
raphkazidule@gmail.com

Dr Tim Baker MBChB PhD

Consultant in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Associate Professor
Muhimbili University of Health & Allied Sciences, Tanzania
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania
Department of Clinical Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK
Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet
tim.baker@ki.se