Course Goals:

1. Enhance ICU clinicians’ understanding of the physiological principles informing assessment and management of mechanical ventilation and strengthen their skills in assessing patient-ventilator interaction.
   
2. Increase awareness of the many relevant aspects of conventional and novel invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation techniques.
   
3. Enhance ICU clinicians’ knowledge of the management of specific clinical problems in mechanically ventilated patients: acute respiratory distress syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations, and difficult weaning from mechanical ventilation.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to...

1. Explain and assess basic physiological aspects of patient-ventilator interaction: respiratory mechanics, respiratory muscle activity and function, patient-ventilator synchrony, and ventilator-induced lung and respiratory muscle injury.
2. Determine why and when mechanical ventilation can be a treatment, a supportive therapy or a source of complications.
3. Describe the optimal approach to liberating patients from mechanical ventilation and conduct a comprehensive clinical assessment to identify and treat causes of difficult ventilator weaning.
4. Deliver evidence-based management of acute respiratory failure using both non-invasive and invasive ventilatory techniques for the following conditions: acute respiratory distress syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and weaning from mechanical ventilation.