In lessons learned, doctors say more critical care experts needed in early stage of epidemic

More medical experts in critical care could have been mobilized to help patients with novel coronavirus in severe condition to reduce the fatality rate during the early stage of the outbreak, medical experts working on the frontline of treating infected patients said.

"Besides respiratory experts, we should have medical experts on the teams who can handle the possible complications caused by the pneumonia," Li Haichao, vice-president of Peking University First Hospital, said during a video news conference held by the State Council Information Office in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Li made the remarks when he was asked about the lessons learned so far from the treatment of patients with novel coronavirus. Also, a mechanism of sharing knowledge and experience among frontline medical workers in different areas could have been established, he added.

Du Bin, director of the medical intensive care unit at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, agreed with Li.

"The local and national healthcare authorities should have mobilized doctors and nurses from intensive care units around China to work together in designated hospitals for novel coronavirus patients to cope with the surge of the need for critical care," Du said at the news conference. "The move would have helped patients to recover more rapidly."

Also, Du said he would act more aggressively in using invasive mechanical ventilation on patients with clinical deterioration in terms of respiratory failure or hypoxemia.

Many novel coronavirus patients also have suffered from other diseases, such as vascular problems, which have greatly complicated things. So it takes specialists from various fields to give patients proper treatments, Qiao Jie, president of Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing, said at the news conference.