Weaning from Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation

First Things First (assess & treat for the following)

  • Prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) is typically defined as >21 days of ventilator dependence.
  • Presumes that standard efforts at ventilator liberation have been consistently applied and unsuccessful
    • Therapist-driven protocols
    • Daily assessment to determine if patient is able to resume spontaneous ventilation
    • Spontaneous breathing trial with assessment of clinical response followed by extubation
  • In the absence of clearly irreversible disease, no patient should be considered permanently ventilator-dependent.

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Last updated: May 17, 2010