Tag Archives: Ventilator Weaning

Daytime versus nighttime extubations: A comparison of reintubation, length of stay, and mortality. (Petrillo)

Posted on by
Reply

Tischenkel BR, Gong MN, Shiloh AL, Pittignano VC, Keschner YG, Glueck JA,
Cohen HW, Eisen LA. Daytime Versus Nighttime Extubations: A Comparison of
Reintubation, Length of Stay, and Mortality. J Intensive Care Med. 2014 Apr 24.
[Epub ahead of print]

PURPOSE: Despite studies regarding outcomes of day versus night medical care, consequences of nighttime extubations are unknown. It may be favorable to extubate patients off-hours, as soon as weaning parameters are met, since this could decrease complications and shorten length of stay (LOS). Conversely, nighttime extubation could be deleterious, as staffing varies during this time. We hypothesized that patients have similar reintubation rates, irrespective of extubation time.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort study performed at 2 hospitals within a tertiary academic medical center included all adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients extubated between July 01, 2009 and May 31, 2011. Those extubated due to withdrawal of support were excluded. The nighttime group included patients extubated between 7:00 pm and 6:59 am and the daytime group included patients extubated between 7:00 am and 6:59 pm.

RESULTS: Of 2240 extubated patients, 1555 were extubated during the day and 685 were extubated at night. Of these, 119 (7.7%) and 26 (3.8%), respectively, were reintubated in 24 hours with likelihood of reintubation significantly lower for nighttime than daytime after multivariable adjustment (odds ratio [OR] = 0.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.3-0.9, P = .01), with a similar trend for reintubation within 72 hours (OR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.5-1.0, P = .07). There was a trend toward decreased mortality for patients extubated at night (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.3-1.0, P = .06). There was also a significantly lower LOS for patients extubated at night (P = .002). In a confirmatory frequency-matched analysis, there was no significant difference in reintubation proportion or mortality, but LOS was significantly less in those extubated at night.

CONCLUSIONS: Intensive care unit extubations at night did not have higher likelihood of reintubation, LOS, or mortality compared to those during the day. Since patients should be extubated as soon as they meet parameters in order to potentially decrease complications of mechanical ventilation, these data provide no support for delaying extubation until daytime.

Full-text for Emory users.

The decision to extubate in the intensive care unit. (Fortenberry)

Posted on by
Reply

Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013 Jun 15;187(12):1294-302. PMID: 23641924

The day of extubation is a critical time during an intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Extubationis usually decided after a weaning readiness test involving spontaneous breathing on a T-piece or low levels of ventilatory assist. Extubation failure occurs in 10 to 20% of patients and is associated with extremely poor outcomes, including high mortality rates of 25 to 50%. There is some evidence that extubation failure can directly worsen patient outcomes independently of underlying illness severity. Understanding the pathophysiology of weaning tests is essential given their central role in extubation decisions, yet few studies have investigated this point. Because extubation failure is relatively uncommon, randomized controlled trials on weaning are underpowered to address this issue. Moreover, most studies evaluated patients at low risk for extubation failure, whose reintubation rates were about 10 to 15%, whereas several studies identified high-risk patients with extubation failure rates exceeding 25 or 30%. Strategies for identifying patients at high risk for extubation failure are essential to improve the management of weaning and extubation. Two preventive measures may prove beneficial, although their exact role needs confirmation: one is noninvasive ventilation after extubation in high-risk or hypercapnic patients, and the other is steroid administration several hours beforeextubation. These measures might help to prevent postextubation respiratory distress in selected patient subgroups.

Full-text for Children’s and Emory users.

Development, implementation, and evaluation of an institutional Daily Awakening and Spontaneous Breathing Trial (DA-SBT) protocol: a quality improvement project. (Stockwell)

Posted on by
Reply

J Intensive Care Med. 2013 May 17. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 22596087

Introduction: While one controlled trial found that a daily awakening and spontaneous breathing trial (DA-SBT) decreases time on mechanical ventilation (MV), there is a paucity of real-world data surrounding the development, implementation, and impact of DA-SBT protocols. We describe a multidisciplinary process improvement effort in 2, 10-bed medical intensive care units (MICUs) at a 330-bed academic medical center that focused on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a new DA-SBT protocol.

Methods: A DA-SBT protocol, developed using results from a nursing survey literature and available institutional resources, was implemented after extensive clinician education and institution of quality reminders to boost use. Postprotocol compliance was evaluated. Use of sedation, DA and SBT practices, and clinical outcomes were retrospectively compared between the before and after DA-SBT protocol groups (ie, consecutive MICU patients requiring a continuously infused sedative [CIS] ≥24 hours).

Results: In the after group (n = 32), the DA and SBT compliances were 44% and 84%, respectively. Compared with the before group (n = 33), after group patients received CIS on fewer days of MV (100% vs 67%, P = .003) and had their CIS down-titrated by ≥25% on more days of CIS (40% vs 71%, P = .006). Neither total CIS dose (P = .49), total MV days (P = .75), days of MV where a SBT occurred (P = .38), nor episodes of self-extubation (15% vs 6%, P = .43) differed between the 2 groups.

Conclusion: Despite the implementation of a DA-SBT protocol that was individualized to clinician preferences and institutional resources and accompanied by substantial education and reminders for use, compliance to the DA component of this protocol was low and duration of MV remained unchanged. Additional quality improvement strategies are needed to overcome barriers to DA-SBT protocol use that may not exist in controlled clinical trials.

Full-text for Emory users.