title: Emergency room to the intensive care unit in Hajj. The chain of life.
abstract: Hajj, which brings more than 2 million Muslims together, represents a special challenge for healthcare services especially the intensive care unit. The main goal for healthcare providers is to provide the best service to the largest number of patients with the available resources. The purpose of this article is to outline the admission criteria from the emergency room to the intensive care and to review some of the unique features of providing these services during the Hajj season.
authors.affiliation: Acting Chairman, Intensive Care Department, King Abdul-Aziz Medical City and College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences, MC 1425, PO Box 22490, Riyadh, 11426, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. arabi@ngha.med.sa
authors.forename: Yaseen M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Arabi
authors.forename: Sameer M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Alhamid
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007514:Islam; D010343:Patient Admission; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D014195:Travel