Decreasing accidental mortality of ventilator-dependent children at home: a call to action

Home Healthc Nurse. 2012 Feb;30(2):103-11; quiz 112-3. doi: 10.1097/NHH.0b013e3182429243.

Abstract

An estimated 8,000 children in the United States are dependent on mechanical ventilation at home. Despite technological advances for home monitoring of ventilated patients, the preventable death rate among these children has not changed significantly during the last 2 decades. Analysis of the data indicate that the primary causes of preventable death in ventilator-dependent children at home are inadequate training, improper response, and a lack of vigilance by the clinicians who care for them.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia / diagnosis
  • Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia / nursing
  • Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia / therapy*
  • Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / methods
  • Child Mortality
  • Child, Preschool
  • Heart Arrest / nursing
  • Heart Arrest / prevention & control*
  • Home Care Services / organization & administration*
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Monitoring, Physiologic / methods
  • Needs Assessment
  • Primary Prevention / organization & administration
  • Respiration, Artificial / mortality*
  • United States