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The need for a regional weaning centre, a one‐year survey of intensive care weaning delay in the Northern Region of England *
Author(s) -
Robson V.,
Poynter J.,
Lawler P. G.,
Baudouin S. V.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2044.2003.02964_1.x
Subject(s) - medicine , weaning , intensive care , intensive care unit , mechanical ventilation , telephone survey , emergency medicine , respiratory care , pediatrics , intensive care medicine , anesthesia , marketing , business
Summary Over a period of one year, a weekly telephone survey identified 161 stable patients with weaning delay (defined as patients ventilated for at least 6 h per day for more than 2 weeks) in intensive care units in the Northern Region of England. Their median age was 69 years (range 21–88 years). Sixty patients (37%) were admitted with medical conditions, 89 (55%) were postoperative patients, whereas 12 (8%) were surgical but required non‐operative admission. One hundred and thirty (89%) were weaned and discharged from the intensive care unit during the year. Twenty‐two (14%) died and two were transferred to the home ventilation service. Seven patients remained ventilated in intensive care at the end of the study period. Twenty patients (12%) required more than 28 days of respiratory support. These patients occupied on average 6.0% of available intensive care unit beds in the region. This study suggests that in the Northern Region of England there are a significant number of stable but ventilator‐dependent patients occupying intensive care beds.