RT Book, Section
A1 Farcy, David A.
A1 Shah, Nirav G.
A1 Petersen, Paul L.
A1 DeBlieux, Peter M.C.
A2 Farcy, David A.
A2 Chiu, William C.
A2 Marshall, John P.
A2 Osborn, Tiffany M.
SR Print(0)
ID 1135699696
T1 Mechanical Ventilation
T2 Critical Care Emergency Medicine, 2e
YR 2016
FD 2016
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9780071838764
LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1135699696
RD 2024/04/23
AB Mechanical  ventilation  (MV)  is  an  essential  tool  for  critically  ill  patients.  While  emergency  physicians  are  well  known  for  their  expertise  in  emergent  airway  management,  securing  the  airway  is  only  a  fraction  of  their  role.  Ventilator  management  is  a  crucial  facet  of  emergency  medicine,  because  if  it  is  not  applied  correctly,  it  can  worsen  the  clinical  course  and  increase  morbidity  and  mortality.1  In  the  past  two  decades,  our  understanding  of  ventilator-induced  lung  injury  (VILI)  has  resulted  in  lowering  tidal  volumes,  minimizing  barotrauma,  and  safely  using  positive  end-expiratory  pressure  (PEEP)  to  reduce  atelectrauma.  In  addition,  we  have  realized  the  importance  of  mitigating  patient-ventilator  dyssynchrony  in  order  to  eliminate  biotrauma.  Given  the  current  crisis  of  intensive  care  unit  (ICU)  overcrowding  and  increased  critical  care  volume,  critically  ill  patients  have  increased  lengths  of  stay  in  the  emergency  department  (ED)  and,  at  times,  are  boarded  for  several  hours  or  even  days  until  a  bed  is  available  in  the  ICU.2,3  The  emergency  physician  must  understand  the  intricacies  of  MV  for  heterogeneous  patient  populations  with  dynamic  pathologies:  No  “single  setting  fits  all.”  Both  patient  care  and  outcomes  will  improve  with  special  consideration  of  each  patient's  needs.