Respiratory care
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The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is a well-established functional exercise capacity test in lung transplant candidates. This study aimed to investigate the construct validity of the 1-min sit-to-stand test (1-min STS) as a marker of exercise capacity and knee extensor strength in lung transplantation candidates. ⋯ The 1-min STS is a valid functional exercise capacity test in lung transplantation candidates. Due to its ease of application, clinical practitioners may consider using the 1-min STS in situations when the 6MWT cannot be performed. Our pilot study may stimulate future research, including a head-to-head comparison between the 6MWT and 1-min STS in a large patient cohort including post-lung transplantation-monitoring.
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There is evidence that ventilator weaning protocols provide benefit to children receiving mechanical ventilation, but many protocols do not include explicit instructions for decreasing ventilator support from maximal settings. We evaluated care provider opinions on ventilator weaning recommendations made by a computerized decision support tool. ⋯ On initial evaluation, the decision support tool did not appear to be highly acceptable to RTs and ICU providers in our setting because recommendations were rarely implemented. In addition, acceptability did not increase over time as patients generally improved. Most respondents preferred to make no ventilator changes and felt the recommendations were too aggressive. The notable barrier to use was a perception of potential patient instability with weaning.
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Long-term home mechanical ventilation is increasingly used by patients with chronic respiratory failure. Storage of medical data in the cloud is expanding, and ventilation can be monitored remotely. The aim of this bench study was to determine whether tidal volume (VT) can be affected by the location of supplemental oxygen placement. ⋯ The monitored VT may be inaccurate if oxygen is added with a connector in the circuit, which may have consequences on both the individual level and collective level (ie, big data analysis). Physicians who analyze data from home ventilators should be aware of the site of oxygen supplementation and promote use of only the rear oxygen intake.