Respiratory care
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Comparative Study
Respiratory therapists' smoking cessation counseling practices: a comparison between 2005 and 2010.
We assessed whether smoking cessation counseling practices and related psychosocial characteristics among respiratory therapists (RTs) improved between 2005 and 2010. ⋯ Although the proportion of RTs trained in smoking cessation counseling during and after studies increased between 2005 and 2010 (from 3% to 14%, and from 17% to 29%, respectively), sustained efforts are needed to increase the number of trained RTs, so that this translates into positive observable changes in counseling practices.
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Lung recruitment maneuvers are frequently used in the treatment of children with lung injury. Here we describe a pilot study to compare the acute effects of 2 commonly used lung recruitment maneuvers on lung volume, gas exchange, and hemodynamic profiles in children with acute lung injury. ⋯ SRS is effective in opening the lung in children with early acute lung injury, and is hemodynamically well tolerated. However, attention must be paid to PaCO2 during the SRS. Even minutes following lung recruitment, lungs may derecruit when PEEP is lowered beyond the closing pressure.
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Patients with end-stage lung disease often progress to critical illness, which dramatically reduces their chance of survival following lung transplantation. Pre-transplant deconditioning has a significant impact on outcomes for all lung transplant patients, and is likely a major contributor to increased mortality in critically ill lung transplant recipients. The aim of this report is to describe a series of patients bridged to lung transplant with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and to examine the potential impact of active rehabilitation and ambulation during pre-transplant ECMO. ⋯ Bridging selected critically ill patients to transplant with ECMO is a viable treatment option, and active participation in physical therapy, including ambulation, may provide a more rapid post-transplantation recovery. This innovative strategy requires further study to fully evaluate potential benefits and risks.
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It is difficult to exactly date the beginning of mechanical ventilation, but there are no doubts that noninvasive ventilation (NIV) was the first method of ventilatory support in clinical practice. The technique had a sudden increase in popularity, so that it is now considered, according to criteria of evidence-based medicine, the first-line treatment for an episode of acute respiratory failure in 4 pathologies (the Fabulous Four): COPD exacerbation, cardiogenic pulmonary edema, pulmonary infiltrates in immunocompromised patients, and in the weaning of extubated COPD patients. The so-called emerging applications are those for which the evidence has not achieved level A, mainly because the number or sample size of the published studies does not allow conclusive meta-analysis. ⋯ The low rate of NIV use in some hospitals relates to lack of knowledge about or experience with NIV, insufficient confidence in the technique, lack of NIV equipment, and inadequate funding. But NIV use has been increasing around the world, thanks partly to improved technologies. The skill and confidence of clinicians in NIV have improved with time and experience, but NIV is and should remain a team effort, rather than the property of a single local "champion," because, overall, NIV is beautiful!