How we wean patients from mechanical ventilation - Professor John Laffey

The AVF Podcast: ICU Tips & Tricks invites colleagues to share anything and everything on how they deal with various clinical situations. Expect discussions on how experts personalise evidence-based medicine for the patient at the bedside.

In this episode, Professor Laffey discusses the findings and implications of the landmark WEAN SAFE study on the epidemiology and outcomes of weaning from invasive mechanical ventilation across 50 countries, which was published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine in January 2023. Dr Laffey is Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the School of Medicine of the National University of Ireland, a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at Galway University Hospitals, and corresponding author of the WEAN SAFE study.

Issues discussed in this interview:
· Key findings of the WEAN SAFE study
· Implications of delaying weaning in patients on invasive mechanical ventilation
· Rewards and challenges of performing large multi-country studies

Selected further reading:
1. Pham T, Heunks L, Bellani G, et al. Weaning from mechanical ventilation in intensive care units across 50 countries (WEAN SAFE): a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study. Lancet Respir Med. 2023 Jan 20:S2213-2600(22)00449-0. Epub ahead of print.