“What knob is this?” – Intensive care unit ventilation for the non-intensivist

Abstract

Indications for intensive care unit (ICU) mechanical ventilation differ from those for intraoperative mechanical ventilation. Always, the fundamental goal is the provision of life-sustaining oxygen saturation, with the avoidance of ventilator-induced trauma. Once past the initial stabilisation phase, a high priority must be placed on liberating the patient from mechanical ventilation. Encouraging patient-ventilator synchrony may accelerate this. Modern ICU ventilators have a number of modes and tools which may be useful in facilitating both initial mechanical ventilation optimisation and accelerate subsequent weaning, and these are generically reviewed within a discussion of the general conduct of ICU ventilation.