Zoekresultaten

Airway care interventions and prone positioning in critically ill patients

Preventing mucus plugging in invasively ventilated intensive care unit patients — routine or personalized care and ‘primum non nocere’

Nursing Practice of Airway Care Interventions and Prone Positioning in ICU Patients with COVID-19-A Dutch National Survey

Background: Airway care interventions and prone positioning are used in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) to improve oxygenation and facilitate mucus removal. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision-making process regarding the practice of airway care interventions and prone positioning was challenging. Objective: To provide an overview of the practice of airway care interventions and prone positioning during the second wave of the pandemic in the Netherlands. Method: Web-based survey design. Seventy ICU nurses, each representing one intensive care in the Netherlands, were contacted for participation. Potential items were generated based on a literature search and formulated by a multidisciplinary team. Questions were pilot tested for face and construct validity by four intensive care nurses from four different hospitals. Results: The response rate was 53/77 (69%). This survey revealed widespread use of airway care interventions in the Netherlands in COVID-19 patients, despite questionable benefits. Additionally, prone positioning was used in invasively and non-invasively ventilated patients. Conclusions: The use of airway care interventions and prone positioning is time consuming and comes with the production of waste. Further research is needed to assess the effectiveness, workload, and environmental impact of airway care interventions and prone positioning.

Chest physiotherapy compared to no chest physiotherapy for cystic fibrosis

BACKGROUND: Chest physiotherapy is widely used in people with cystic fibrosis in order to clear mucus from the airways.OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness and acceptability of chest physiotherapy compared to no treatment or spontaneous cough alone to improve mucus clearance in cystic fibrosis.SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group Trials Register which comprises references identified from comprehensive electronic database searches and handsearches of relevant journals and abstract books of conference proceedings.Date of the most recent search of the Group's Cystic Fibrosis Trials Register: 04 February 2013.SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised or quasi-randomised clinical studies in which a form of chest physiotherapy (airway clearance technique) were taken for consideration in people with cystic fibrosis compared with either no physiotherapy treatment or spontaneous cough alone.DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Both authors independently assessed study eligibility, extracted data and assessed study quality. There was heterogeneity in the published outcomes, with variable reporting which meant pooling of the data for meta-analysis was not possible.MAIN RESULTS: The searches identified 144 studies, of which eight cross-over studies (data from 96 participants) met the inclusion criteria. There were differences between studies in the way that interventions were delivered, with several of the intervention groups combining more than one treatment modality. One included study looked at autogenic drainage, six considered conventional chest physiotherapy, three considered oscillating positive expiratory pressure, seven considered positive expiratory pressure and one considered high pressure positive expiratory pressure. Of the eight studies, six were single-treatment studies and in two, the treatment intervention was performed over two consecutive days (once daily in one, twice daily in the other). This enormous heterogeneity in the treatment interventions prevented any meta-analyses from being performed.Four studies, involving 28 participants, reported a higher amount of expectorated secretions during chest physiotherapy as compared to a control. One study, involving 18 participants, reported no significant differences in sputum weight. In five studies radioactive tracer clearance was used as an outcome variable. In three of these (28 participants) it was reported that chest physiotherapy, including coughing, increased radioactive tracer clearance as compared to the control period. One study (12 participants) reported increased radioactive tracer clearance associated with all interventions compared to control, although this was only reported to have reached significance for postural drainage with percussion and vibrations; and the remaining study (eight participants) reported no significant difference in radioactive tracer clearance between chest physiotherapy, without coughing, compared to the control period. Three studies, involving 42 participants reported no significant effect on pulmonary function variables following intervention; but one further study did report significant improvement in pulmonary function following the intervention in some of the treatment groups.AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The results of this review show that airway clearance techniques have short-term effects in the terms of increasing mucus transport. No evidence was found on which to draw conclusions concerning the long-term effects.

Bronchial mucus transport

Effective clearance of inhaled particles requires mucus production and continuous mucus transport from the lower airways to the oropharynx. Mucus production takes place mainly in the peripheral airways. Mucus transport is achieved by the action of the ciliated cells that cover the inner surface of the airways (mucociliary transport) and by expiratory airflow. The capacity for mucociliary transport is highest in the peripheral airways, whereas the capacity for airflow transport is highest in the central airways. In patients with airways disease, mucociliary transport may be impaired and airflow transport may become the most important mucus transport mechanism.

Airway Mucus in Invasively Ventilated Critically Ill Patients

Patients who are critically ill and receiving invasivemechanical ventilation are at increased risk for accumula-tion of secretions in the lower airways. Such accumula-tion of airway mucus can induce atelectasis and contributeto ventilator-associated pneumonia. Preventive airwaycare interventions, including humidification, endotrachealsuctioning, and pharmacologic interventions, are thereforefrequently initiated during invasive ventilation. However,evidence for the efficacy of these interventions is scarce,and the absence of guidelines enhances variation in indica-tions for their use. Currently, the choice and timing of interventions aremainly driven by clinical assessment of mucus viscosity based on a mucus classification scale or preference by thetreating physician. Alternatively, airway mucus proper-ties can be measured through rheology, a more objectiveparameter, which characterizes its biophysical properties(eg, viscoelasticity). Previously, studies reported that rhe-ology of airway secretions may help classify chronic muco-obstructive respiratory diseases and serve as a marker ofdisease progression. In this study, we tested the hypoth-esis that airway mucus viscoelastic properties, as measuredby rheology in patients who are critically ill and receivinginvasive mechanical ventilation, correlates with its clinicalmucus classification score.