• Ramon Farré, Esther Giró, Vinyet Casolivé, Daniel Navajas, and Joan Escarrabill.
• Unitat de Biofísica i Bioenginyeria, Facultat de Medicina, Institut Investigacions Biomediques August Pi Sunyer, Universitat de Barcelona, Casanova 143, 08036 Barcelona, Spain. farre@medicina.ub.es
• Intensive Care Med. 2003 Mar 1;29(3):484-6.

ObjectiveDuring home mechanical ventilation the prescribed settings are applied without permanent supervision of health professionals. After a long-time period of unattended operation at home the ventilator may not apply the ventilation parameters prescribed. This quality control study of home mechanical ventilation assessed whether tidal volume (V(T)), frequency (f), and minute ventilation (V'(E)) actually applied by the ventilator coincide with the values set on the ventilator control panel and with those prescribed.MeasurementsActual V(T), f, and V'(E) applied by the ventilator in 30 patients on nocturnal HMV were measured at the patients' homes. The patients were subjected to volume targeted assist ventilation through nasal mask (n=28) or tracheostomy (n=2). The values of V(T), f, and V'(E) set at the ventilator were recorded. The actual and set V(T), f, and V'(E) values were compared with those prescribed.ResultsConsiderable differences were found between actual, set and prescribed V(T), f, and V'(E). Actual V'(E) was significantly lower than V'(E) set: mean difference was 0.82 l/min, with considerable individual differences. Differences between actual and prescribed V'(E) were caused both by a poor performance of the ventilator and by a discrepancy between the values prescribed and those set at the ventilator control panel.ConclusionsRegularly assessing the actual performance of ventilators at the patient's home is a quality control procedure useful for detecting malfunctions which could improve compliance and outcome of home mechanical ventilation.

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