The practice of mechanical ventilation in pediatrics: Science, art, or a simple routine?

摘要

In this issue of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Wolfler and colleagues (1) present a study conducted by the Sistema de Infor-maeion de los Servicios Publicos de Empleo (SISPE) Study Group, a consortium of pediatric intensive care physicians in Italy. The SISPE study is a prospective, observational, multicenter, cohort study that describes children treated with mechanical ventilation (MV) for at least 24 hrs in 17 Italian pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and one neonatal intensive care unit over a 6-month period from November 2006 to April 2007. Two of the 18 units, however, collected data only for 3 consecutive months.