[Monitoring of patients receiving mechanical ventilation]

Abstract

Patients undergoing mechanical ventilation are usually treated in the intensive care unit. Monitoring of these patients is challenging for all members of the medical staff. Understanding the aetiology of respiratory failure as well as the pathophysiological principles is essential for appropriate monitoring and treatment. Besides observation of clinical signs, different monitoring methods have become available including invasive and non-invasive diagnostic tools. Furthermore, knowledge about oxygen supply and oxygen consumption as well as respiratory muscle capacities and workload is important. The current article presents an overview of these issues and evaluates different diagnostic tools to monitor ventilator-dependent patients.