2004 OPEN FORUM Abstracts
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF A THERAPIST-DRIVEN WEANING PROTOCOL ON LENGTH OF VENTILATION, RE-INTUBATION RATES AND HOSPITAL COSTS
Cecilia
Herlitzke RRT, NPS; Robert Milisch Med, RRT; Daniel Deetz MD.
Franciscan Skemp Medical Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Background:
The use of respiratory care protocols has been shown to decrease
unnecessary treatment and reduce health care costs. We sought to
design a program whereby ventilated patients are evaluated for
ability to be weaned on a daily basis. Patients who passed the daily
wean screen (WS) could then be automatically weaned from mechanical
ventilation per a protocol and extubated if they successfully
completed the weaning process. The assumption was that a systematic
approach would decrease ventilator days, the number of ICU days,
re-intubation rates and also reduce costs.
Method: Physicians
were given the option of having their patients have daily WS. Daily
WS parameters were established for patients on mechanical
ventilation. These parameters include PaO2/FIO2 >200, PEEP
< 5, f/Vt < 105, MIF > -20, sedation
score, evaluation of hemodynamic stability and vasopressor use.
Patients passing the WS were placed on a T-piece for a period of 1
hour. Patients experiencing difficulties with T-piece breathing were
placed on pressure support and slowly weaned. Patients failing both
T-piece and pressure support trails were returned to full mechanical
ventilation and evaluated the next morning. Physicians not wanting
the daily wean screens weaned their patients with written orders for
each step of the weaning process.
Results: During a 22 month
period, 321 patients were mechanically ventilated. Of these patients,
56 were either transferred, expired while on mechanical ventilation
or were self-extubated. 108 patients were weaned and extubated by
direct physician order (without use of the protocol). The remaining
67 patients were ordered on the WS protocol. The average ventilator
days, ICU days and re-intubation rate are shown below:
| Type of weaning | Number | Average Vent. Days | Average ICU days | Re-intubation rate |
| Without protocol | 108 | 3.61 | 6.90 | 6.5% |
| With protocol | 67 | 2.0 | 4.34 | 1.5% |
Conclusion: The patients
who were weaned per protocol had a significant reduction in
ventilator days (1.6 days), ICU days (2.56 days) and had a lower
re-intubation rate (5% reduction). The reduction in ventilator days
and ICU days resulted in cost savings of $ 115,000.00 for the 67
patients in the protocol group. The reduction in the ICU days
resulted in a cost savings of $90,908.00 when comparing the cost of
ICU care versus care on a general medical floor. This represents a
savings of $3251.00 per patient weaned per protocol or a total
savings of $217,830.00 for all patients during this time period. The
significantly lower re-intubation rate also represents a positive
impact of the use of the protocol. We concluded that the use of the
WS protocol represents a significant reduction of both ventilator and
ICU days and costs while reducing the risks and trauma of being
mechanically ventilated.