Prolonged acute mechanical ventilation: implications for hospital benchmarking

Prolonged acute mechanical ventilation: implications for hospital benchmarking. CHEST May 2009, vol. 135 no. 5 1157-1162 [journal article]

Zilberberg, M.D., Kramer, A.A., Higgins, T.L., Shorr, A.F.

http://www.chestjournal.org/content/135/5/1157.short?rss=1

Hospital performance measures rely on aggregate outcomes. For patients receiving mechanical ventilation (MV), outcomes depend on severity of illness, hospital MV volume, and case mix. Patients requiring prolonged acute MV (PAMV) [MV for ≥ 96 h] comprise a resource-intensive group, but the impact of its volume on aggregate outcomes is unknown.