[Quality of Care for People with Home Mechanical Ventilation in Germany: A Scoping Review]

Outpatient intensive care for people with long-term mechanical ventilation is a rapidly growing area with a wide range of care demands. The aim of this Scoping Review is to present the current state of research on the quality of care for people with home mechanical ventilation in Germany and to identify research gaps.

Based on predefined inclusion criteria, 4 databases were searched for publications dealing with the care of people with home ventilation in Germany. The method of "data driven thematic analysis" led the data extraction and analysis. Distinction was made between research and expert opinion.

The search resulted in 493 matches of which 68 publications were included in the this study: two guidelines (3%), 45 (66%) research papers and 21 (31%) expert opinions. The following topics were identified: Organization and control of ventilation (n=43; 63%), nursing (n=23; 34%), medical (n=39; 57%), therapeutic (n=7; 10%) and assistive technologies care (n=24; 35%), as well as the perspective of people with home mechanical ventilation and their relatives (n=33; 49%) and other topics (n=13; 19%).

Although the debate on the quality of care for people living with home mechanical ventilation is conducted broadly, studies focusing on individual care demands, autonomy and participation depending on the living situation or on the role of specific health professionals within the interprofessional team are missing.