Nurse-led weaning from mechanical ventilation: where's the evidence?

Several authors have suggested clinical protocols as a means of shortening ventilation time and the important role of the nurse in reducing ventilation time has also been highlighted. Despite the many references in the literature to reducing weaning times using clinical protocols, it is not clear whether nurse-led weaning strategies hasten weaning from mechanical ventilation compared with physician-led care.

to systematically review the published literature to answer the question: Does nurse-led weaning from mechanical ventilation reduce duration of ventilation compared with doctor-led care?

MEDLINE, CINHAL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Best Evidence, hand search, expert opinion, controlled trials register.

randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies where nurses or respiratory therapists lead the weaning from mechanical ventilation; duration of ventilation must be stated.

performed by the author, who extracted data on statistical significance of the difference in duration of ventilation between control and trial groups, complication rates (such as reintubation) and mortality.

statistical synthesis was not attempted but narrative synthesis was performed.

only 1 randomized controlled trial and 2 cohort studies were found where nurses or respiratory therapists led weaning using a protocol. Two studies showed reduction in ventilation time without additional complications; the third study had the weakest evidence, because it was retrospective, and showed no difference between control and treatment groups.

There is limited evidence suggesting that nurse-led weaning may reduce ventilation time; however, it is not clear whether it was the nurse-led aspect or the clinical protocol that produced the effect.