TY - JOUR T1 - Cardiac intensive care in Portugal: The time for change JO - Revista Portuguesa de Cardiologia (English edition) T2 - AU - Monteiro,Sílvia AU - Timóteo,Ana Teresa AU - Caeiro,Daniel AU - Silva,Marisa AU - Tralhão,António AU - Guerreiro,Cláudio AU - Silva,Doroteia AU - Aguiar,Carlos AU - Santos,José AU - Monteiro,Pedro AU - Gil,Victor AU - Morais,João SN - 21742049 M3 - 10.1016/j.repce.2020.04.007 DO - 10.1016/j.repce.2020.04.007 UR - https://www.revportcardiol.org/en-cardiac-intensive-care-in-portugal-articulo-S2174204920301999 AB - In recent years, the number of patients requiring acute cardiac care has increased, with progressively more complex cardiovascular conditions, often complicated by acute or chronic non-cardiovascular comorbidities, which affects the management and prognosis of these patients. Coronary care units have evolved into cardiac intensive care units, which provide highly specialized health care for the critical heart patient. In view of the limited human and technical resources in this area, we consider that there is an urgent need for an in-depth analysis of the organizational model for acute cardiac care, including the definition of the level of care, the composition and training of the team, and the creation of referral networks. It is also crucial to establish protocols and to adopt safe clinical practices to improve levels of quality and safety in the treatment of patients. Considering that acute cardiac care involves conditions with very different severity and prognosis, it is essential to define the level of care to be provided for each type of acute cardiovascular condition in terms of the team, available techniques and infrastructure. This will lead to improvements in the quality of care and patient prognosis, and will also enable more efficient allocation of resources. ER -