Predicting Duration of Invasive Mechanical Ventilation in Pediatric ICUs

Whereas invasive mechanical ventilation is crucial for supporting critically ill children, it is associated with several iatrogenic complications ranging from infection to mechanical lung injury and prolonged exposure to sedatives and neuromuscular blockade.¹ Consequently, the importance of early liberation from mechanical ventilation has been recognized as a key quality metric by the Society of Critical Care Medicine ICU liberation program and the recently published expert consensus on pediatric ventilator liberation.^2-3

Accurate prediction of mechanical ventilation duration can enhance clinical decision-making and achieve early liberation from the ventilator. Additionally, with the significant reductions in mortality rates within pediatric ICUs (PICUs) over the past few decades, researchers now consider the duration of mechanical ventilation as an alternative outcome measure.⁴ However, there is currently no standardized benchmark for the duration of invasive mechanical ventilation in the PICU. In this issue of Respiratory Care, Rogerson et al^{5 …}

Correspondence: Abdallah Dalabih MD MBA, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 1 Children’s Way, Slot 512-12, Little Rock, AR, 72202. E-mail: adalabih{at}uams.edu