Developing a breath-stacking system to achieve lung volume recruitment.

摘要

Patients with neuromuscular disease often experience respiratory problems. It is recognized that lung volume recruitment is an effective way of managing and often avoiding respiratory problems associated with muscle weakness. There are a number of methods that may be employed to provide this client group with lung volume recruitment, but some can be quite costly or difficult to manage. This article describes the local development of a breath-stacking system based on an existing respiratory therapy product designed to achieve lung volume recruitment. The system was developed through consultation with The National Home Ventilation Benchmarking Group and adapted as a procedure; practice guidelines were also drawn up. Initial local informal feedback provides an insight into the success of its use for patients with neuromuscular diseases.