Prolonged acute mechanical ventilation: implications for hospital benchmarking

Prolonged acute mechanical ventilation: implications for hospital benchmarking. Chest, vol. 135(5), May 2009, p.1157-1162.

Zilberberg, M.D. et al.

http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/135/5/1157.full

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. We investigated whether observed outcomes differed from those predicted by APACHE (acute physiology and chronic health evaluation) IV risk adjustment and the relationship between hospital MV volume and outcomes among patients receiving PAMV.