A CASE SERIES OF A PAV+ WEANING PROTOCOL IN AN ACUTE CARE ENVIRONMENT DEMONSTRATING AN ABSENCE OF WEANING FAILURE

Most patients undergoing mechanical ventilation (MV) in critical care units are liberated from the ventilator within a median of 7 days. Unfortunately, some patients experience difficulty in liberation from MV during their ICU stays and require extended time on MV. It has been estimated that 40% of the patient's duration on the ventilator is spent weaning.[1] Moreover, although patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation represent approximately 6% of all ventilated patients, they consume 37% of intensive care unit resources.[2] Therefore, accelerating the liberation of prolonged weaning patients from MV improves patient care and could yield significant economic benefits.