Clinical quality improvement: eliminating unplanned extubation in the CCU

Analytical Review of Unplanned Extubation in Intensive Care Units and Recommendation on Multidisciplinary Preventive Approaches

Unplanned extubations (UE) frequently occur in critical care units. These events are precipitated by many risk factors and are associated with adverse outcomes for patients. We reviewed the current literature to examine factors related to UE and presented the analysis of 41 articles critical to the topic. Our review has identified specific risk factors that we discuss in this review, such as sedation strategies, physical restraints, endotracheal tube position, and specific nursing care aspects associated with an increased incidence of UE. We recommend interventions to reduce the risk of UE. However, we recommend that bundled rather than a single intervention is likely to yield higher success, given the heterogeneity of factors contributing to increasing the risk of UE.

Revisiting unplanned extubation in the pediatric intensive care unit: What's new?

In 2010, recommendations for preventing unplanned extubations (UEs) in pediatric patients were published based on a literature review. Since then, there have been an increasing number of publications related to UE focusing on children. If the introduction of care bundles and larger body of evidence on UE had impact on UE occurrence, this would have important implications on clinical practice. We searched for relevant publications published between Jan 1, 2010 and Jun 30, 2016 in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane systems. Eight articles were eligible for data abstraction. Three studies were of high methodological quality. The mean contemporaneous incidence of UEs was 1.19 UEs/100 intubation days. The primary risk factors were as follows: caregiver bedside procedures/manipulation, agitation, and endotracheal tube care. The ideal incidence of UEs remains unknown. Key areas identified in the current review may be amenable to changes in unit processes by implementing a care bundle strategy.

Frequency and Etiology of Ventilator-Associated Events in the Medical Intensive Care Unit

BACKGROUND

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed new criteria based on a significant deterioration in oxygenation to identify ventilator-associated events (conditions). The aim of this study was to determine how frequently this happened and what caused these conditions.

METHODS

Electronic medical records and x-rays from 281 ventilator episodes in the medical intensive care unit were reviewed to determine the characteristics of patients requiring ventilation and the number of patients meeting the criteria for ventilator-associated conditions (VACs).

RESULTS

This cohort included 257 patients (55.4% men) who required 281 episodes of mechanical ventilation. The mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Healthy Evaluation II score was 13.5 ± 5.9. The initial mean PaO2/FiO2 was 210 ± 110. The median number of ventilator days was 4 (interquartile range: 3-9). The overall mortality was 32.3%. Nineteen patients (11.7% of eligible episodes) met the CDC criteria for a VAC; 6 met FiO2 criteria (31.6%) and 13 met positive end expiratory pressure criteria (68.4%). Twelve patients (63.2%) had an increased white blood cell count (>12k/μL) during the event. Eleven patients had an increase in temperature (>38°C) during this period. The etiology of these conditions included pneumonia (n = 4), atelectasis (n = 4), congestive heart failure (n = 5), acute respiratory distress syndrome (n = 2), and miscellaneous reasons (n = 4).

CONCLUSIONS

VACs occurred in 11.7% of patients in our medical intensive care unit. The etiology of these events was diverse and did not usually reflect complications. These new CDC criteria for institutional reporting of complications during mechanical ventilation do not necessarily identify complications or provide a good method for comparing outcomes in hospitals.