The line between life and death is intensive care

August 27th is ‘World Intensive Care Day.’ The birth of World Intensive Care Day began as follows: “In the summer of 1952, Denmark was shaken by a major polio epidemic. Approximately 2,722 patients were admitted to hospitals, hundreds of whom were facing death due to paralysis of their respiratory muscles. At the time, only seven ‘iron lung’ devices were available, and as a result, nearly 90 percent of patients with respiratory failure died. It was at this point that the young anesthesiologist Björn Ibsen proposed a different solution. He created a tracheostomy and began applying positive pressure ventilation. Because the devices were insufficient, dozens of medical students took turns providing manual respiratory support with rubber balloons. On August 27, 1952, this method was first used on a 12-year-old girl named Vivi Ebert. The patient narrowly escaped death. This achievement went down in history as the ‘birthday of modern intensive care medicine.’”

48,966 INTENSIVE CARE BEDS According to 2023 data from the Ministry of Health, there are a total of 48,966 intensive care beds in 1,566 hospitals in Turkey. This number constitutes approximately 18 percent of total hospital beds. 50 percent of these beds are in Ministry of Health hospitals, 14 percent in university hospitals, and 35 percent in private hospitals. Approximately 20 percent of Turkey's intensive care beds are in Istanbul, while nearly 30 percent of the total capacity is in the Marmara Region.

24-HOUR UNINTERRUPTED MONITORING Turkish Thoracic Society Central Executive Board Member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aslıhan Gürün Kaya emphasized the importance of intensive care, saying, "Intensive care units are one of the most critical components of modern medicine. These units are centers where the most seriously ill patients and those facing life-threatening conditions are treated, providing uninterrupted 24-hour monitoring and advanced treatment services. In life-threatening situations such as respiratory failure, sepsis, multiple organ failure, serious trauma, and major surgical procedures, the advanced technology provided by intensive care and the coordinated work of experienced healthcare teams are critical to the survival of patients."

LIFE-SAVING ROLE Assoc . Prof. Dr. Umut Sabri Kasapoğlu, Secretary of the Turkish Thoracic Society's Respiratory Failure and Intensive Care Working Group, stated that intensive care is not just about advanced medical devices, saying, "Intensive care physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and other healthcare professionals work with great dedication to help critically ill patients fight for survival. These teams don't just focus on physical health. They also provide holistic care, taking into account the psychological state of patients and the concerns of their families. Intensive care plays a life-saving role."

THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM'S LAST LINE OF DEFENSE Prof. Dr. Tuğhan Utku, an Intensive Care Specialist in the Department of ANESTHESIA and Reanimation, said, "Today, intensive care units not only save lives but also play a leading role in the ethical, technological, and scientific development of modern medicine. Patients are under the uninterrupted supervision of physicians and nurses 24/7. Advanced technologies such as mechanical ventilators, hemodialysis, and ECMO are combined with multidisciplinary teamwork. All of this makes intensive care units the healthcare system's 'last line of defense.'"

Prof. Dr. Utku stated that decisions made in intensive care produce results within minutes, even seconds, making intensive care one of the areas where the most critical decisions in medicine are made, adding, "In intensive care, it's not the bed that saves lives, it's the team."