Centre médical de transit et d’évacuation (CMTE) pour les patients COVID graves

During the third wave of the COVID-19 crisis in the Île-de-France region, the prolonged tension on critical care beds led to the development of the concept of a CMTE (Medical Center for Transit and Evacuation). This unit based in a hospital, near the technical resuscitation platform, aims to accommodate for a few hours, sort, condition and then transfer serious COVID-19 patients for whom the medical regulation of the departmental SAMU initially failed to find a place in critical care. It therefore makes it possible to secure pre-hospital care and optimize the management of a flow of serious patients linked to the pandemic. This article describes this structure, its components, its operation and its relationship with the SAMU. It is considering its application to contexts other than the pandemic.