Awake Prone Positioning for COVID-19 Acute Hypoxaemic Respiratory Failure

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the management of hypoxemic respiratory failure as limited ICU capacity is strained by a new high-mortality disease and large numbers of patients requiring prolonged periods of hospitalization, as well as respiratory support equipment such as ventilators and intensive care unit (ICU) beds. If early and prolonged prone positioning (DV) reduces mortality in invasively ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), its role in conscious patients (DV vigil) remains a subject of debate and research. This is a retrospective, monocentric, descriptive and analytical cohort conducted over a period of 22 months from March 2020 to December 2021 and involving 1069 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the CHU Mohammed VI of Oujda for the management of acute respiratory failure caused by COVID-19.