Abstract
The process of weaning from mechanical ventilation is a continuum of decreasing support provided by the ventilator in order to assess a patient’s readiness and ability to be liberated of mechanical support. Prolonged mechanical ventilation is associated with higher morbidity, longer hospital stays, and adverse effects for the highly vulnerable and critically ill population that is requiring mechanical ventilatory support (Blackwood et al., 2011). Evidence based practice advises mechanical ventilation to be discontinued as soon as patients are capable of breathing independently. In order to achieve this, regular performance of daily spontaneous breathing trials (SBT) are essential in improving clinical outcomes in the intensive care unit and decreasing total mechanical ventilation time as well as the time a patient spends during the weaning phase. Despite this evidence, mechanically ventilated patients do not receive daily SBTs and consequently there is an opportunity to improve patient outcomes by increasing adherence to this evidence-based care practice. Furthermore, evidence suggest that use of nurse-led ventilator-weaning protocols for mechanically ventilated adults has a positive impact on weaning outcomes and patient safety (Hirzallah, Alkaissi, & Barbieri-Figueiredo, 2019). The focus of this project is to introduce and implement a universal nurse-led assessment protocol for mechanically ventilated patients in the intensive care unit. The goals of this project are to improve the recognition of ventilator weaning criteria, implement unit consistency in identifying when a patient is ready to wean, and establish standards of care among nurses on the unit.