During hospitalisation, how are the patients actually helped ?
It will involve, for the "need to hospitalize" patients (20% ?), just out of my head:
- symptomatic control for comfort, pain, minor breathing difficulties (bronchodilators, oxygen mask)
- correcting unbalances while the body naturally fights the infection (hydration, better control of temperature)
- controlling risk factors and treating comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, co-infections with bacteria that will need antibiotics)
The above are patients whom are almost all stable, many with pneumonia, but at a risk of developing serious complications. The goal of hospitalization is to reduce this risk down.
Hospitalization itself is probably a risk factor for very mildly ill patients so this should ideally be decided on a case by case scenario... If time and resources allow.
If these patients deteriorate (imminent or established organ failure) then you are talking about intermediate or intensive care. A relatively stable patient with just renal failure may be treated in an intermediate unit with dialysis, but as more organs are threatened ICU is the only option. Here you are under intensive care, with very specialized professionals whose goal is to directly save your life. Sometimes working at a ratio of 1 patient per nurse for example, who is working all time. Temperature checks, precise urine measurements, permanent blood pressure vigillance, x-rays, etc. Doctors here work with drugs that many other doctors are untrained in, are experts at ressuscitation and advanced life support, etc...
Now add to it, that all this needs to be done with unordinary and extreme protection measures for professionals to diminish transmission, which make everything far far slower and tiring.
Imagine how quicly some of these systems can be overwhelmed in an epodemic. A large ICU with a significant number of doctors and nurses needing quarantine at the same time will have difficulty replacing them with doctors who are ready to provide the same standard of care, for example.
I have friends involved on this, who are working in hospitals with zero or one cases, and are tired just of the preparation.