Specific Training Improves the Detection and Management of Patient-Ventilator Asynchrony

Area of Science:

• Critical Care Medicine
• Respiratory Therapy
• Medical Education

Background:

• Patient-ventilator asynchrony is a frequent complication in mechanically ventilated patients.
• Limited healthcare professional expertise exists in identifying and managing patient-ventilator asynchrony.
• Existing training programs often focus on detection but not on determining the causes of asynchrony.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive training program on patient-ventilator asynchrony detection, cause determination, and management.
• To assess the retention of learned skills by healthcare professionals after a 1-month follow-up period.

Main Methods:

• A 36-hour training program was delivered to 116 healthcare professionals across 20 hospitals in Latin America and Spain.
• The program included a 6-hour live online lesson with 120 case presentations, followed by 30 days of daily 1-hour training sessions.
• A 30-question assessment tool was administered pre-training, immediately post-training, and at a 1-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in assessment scores were observed from pre-training to post-training (P < .001).
• Median correct answers increased from 12 pre-training to 18 post-training and 18.5 at follow-up.
• Performance gains in detecting, determining causes, and managing patient-ventilator asynchrony were sustained at the 1-month follow-up (P = .95).

Conclusions:

• A 36-hour training program effectively enhanced healthcare professionals' ability to detect, determine causes, and manage patient-ventilator asynchrony.
• The training program demonstrated a significant positive impact on clinical skills related to mechanical ventilation management.
• Skills acquired through the training were retained for at least one month post-intervention.