Abstract
The current gold standard for home mechanical ventilation (HMV) initiation is during an inpatient period. The widening indications for HMV in a resources-limited system made exclusive inpatient initiation, adaptation and follow up impracticable. For almost 10 years our center developed a protocol for patient follow up in an outpatient setting and later initiation of HMV.
The HMV outpatient clinic consists of a pulmonologist, a nurse and the presence of a technician from the home respiratory care company (provider of NIV in Portugal).
At initiation willing patients are adapted and titrated to NIV for a period of at least 1h with blood gas analysis and/or capnography with the ventilator they will take home, if tolerated. Patients are re-evaluated at 15 days to 1 month and 3 months and have regular home visits by the company.
Between 01/2018 and 06/2019, 88 patients started HMV, 49 patients in an outpatient setting (55.7%), the remainder were adapted as inpatient during an exacerbation.
No deaths, need for inpatient adaptation or complications of HMV were recorded during the first 3 months.
Our experience with outpatient initiation on HMV has proven to be feasible, safe and effective in reducing hypercapnia.
Footnotes
Cite this article as: ERJ Open Research 2020; 6: Suppl. 4, 00.
This is an ERS Respiratory Failure and Mechanical Ventilation Conference abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).
- Copyright ©the authors 2020