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News Articles: ECMO

James Perkinson of Greenbriar, Tenn., underwent ECMO for nearly two months while he was sedated. He says without the "miracle" therapy, he "wouldn't be here right now."

Even with risky survival rate, shortages of ECMO machines cost lives, study finds

For COVID patients, ECMO is a last-ditch respiratory treatment in which only about half survive. Yet a new small study suggests many lives would still have been saved if there had been more machines.

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By:
  • Blake Farmer
Hospitals around the U.S., including large academic medical centers like Vanderbilt University's in Nashville, Tenn., have been forced to rely on traveling nurses to keep their intensive care units fully staffed. The demand for travel nurses has driven up their hourly rates, which then motivates more staff nurses to leave in pursuit of a traveling gig.

Worn-out nurses hit the road for better pay, stressing hospital budgets — and morale

In areas overwhelmed by COVID cases, hospitals must rely on traveling nurses to operate ICUs. Hospitals pay a premium for that temporary help, while also struggling to keep their staff nurses happy.

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By:
  • Blake Farmer
ECMO is the highest level of life support — beyond a ventilator, which pumps oxygen via a tube through the windpipe into the lungs. Instead, the ECMO process basically functions as a heart and lungs outside of the body — routing the blood via tubing to a machine that oxygenates it, then pumps it back into the patient.

Across The COVID-Ravaged South, High-Level Life Support Is Difficult To Find

ECMO, the highest level of mechanical life support, functions as a temporary heart and lungs for some of COVID-19's sickest patients. But the waitlist is too long for many patients who need it.

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By:
  • Blake Farmer