Home ventilation

Introduction

As tertiary care in pediatric and neonatal intensive care treatment (PICU & NICU) is improving, and there is an early diagnosis and intervention of respiratory failure, more and more children are surviving, and there is a greater dependency on assisted ventilation both mechanical ventilation and non - invasive ventilation, leading to longer hospitalization and an escalating cost of treatment. Hence there is an increasing need to transfer these children requiring prolonged assisted ventilation from PICU’s to the home environment or to less acute areas. There is a larger involvement and role of the primary care physicians in the care of these children in a total team effort with pediatric intensivists & pulmonologists. Home ventilation becomes the best option for these children’s psychosocial development, social integration & quality of life. Read More