Journal of doctoral nursing practice
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Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by an acute, diffuse, inflammatory lung injury, leading to increased alveolar capillary permeability, increased lung weight, and loss of aerated lung tissue (Fan, Brodie, & Slutsky, 2018). Primary treatment for ARDS is artificial mechanical ventilation (AMV) (Wu, Huang, Wu, Wang, & Lin, 2016). Given recent advances in technology, the use of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) to treat severe ARDS is growing rapidly (Combes et al., 2014). ⋯ Although the results related to length of time on AMV did not produce statistical significance, the decreased duration of AMV in the participants who were cannulated within 48 hours (21 days vs. 27 days) may support several benefits associated with this participant population including increased knowledge of healthcare providers, decreased lung injury, earlier discharge which decreases hospital and patient cost, ability for patients to communicate sooner, decreased risk of pulmonary infection, decreased length of stay, decreased cost, and improved patient and family satisfaction.