Potential Impact of the Use of the Application VentilO After Cardiac Surgery

Frequency of Respiratory Acidosis and Alkalosis in Intensive Care Department of the IUCPQ-UL After Cardiac Surgery. Potential Impact of the Use of the Application VentilO

Mechanical ventilation is a vital support associated with the treatment of patients with acute respiratory failure and in other indications such as surgery under general anesthesia, coma or shock. Optimization of settings during mechanical ventilation and implementation of protective ventilation help to avoid ventilation-induced injury, ensure adequate oxygenation and maintain adequate carbon dioxide concentration to avoid respiratory acidosis or alkalosis.

Similarly, there is also no clear recommendation, to our knowledge, for the initial setting of the respiratory rate. Therefore, initial settings are not always adequate and in the literature the frequency of respiratory acidosis is very high, reaching about half of the patients receiving mechanical ventilation.

VentilO, is an application that is available on smart phones. This educational application provides clinicians with initial settings and optimization of these settings based on gender, height, weight, body temperature and patient type. The algorithm used is based on published data regarding ventilatory requirements in different populations and the anatomical and instrumental dead space of patients.

The purpose of our study is to:

Assess whether ventilatory settings after intensive care unit admission after cardiac surgery are appropriate to compare the ventilatory adjustments made by clinicians with those proposed by the VentilO application.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults (> or = 18 years old)
• Intubated patients admitted to the ICU immediately postoperative from cardiac surgery
• Obtained a postoperative arterial gas within 1 hour of arrival in the ICU

Exclusion Criteria:

• Lack of patient anthropometric data (height and weight) available in the patient record