The current practice patterns of mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure in pediatric patients.

OBJECTIVE

To quantify the current practice patterns of mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure in pediatric patients.

DESIGN

Mail survey using 2 hypothetical case studies sent to pediatric critical care physicians.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The required arterial blood gas (ABG) on conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) is pH = 7.25 to 7.29, PO2 = 50 to 59 torr, O2 saturation = 0.85 to 0.89. Most of our survey participants will treat a patient failing conventional mechanical ventilation in their pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) with inverse ratio ventilation (IRV) (95%) and with high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) (92%).

CONCLUSION

Most of the surveyed pediatric critical care physicians practice permissive hypercapnia in the treatment of their patients who receive ventilatory assistance. More than 90% of surveyed pediatric critical care physicians are presently using inverse ratio ventilation and high-frequency oscillatory ventilation. These data suggest that these innovative modes of therapy are already accepted as part of the standard therapeutic spectrum by the surveyed group of physicians.