Pediatric Ventilation Liberation: Bundled Extubation Readiness and Analgosedation Pathways Decrease Mechanical Ventilation Duration and Benzodiazepine Exposure.

Background: Recent studies reported that children on mechanical ventilation who were managed with an analgosedation approach and standardized extubation readiness testing experienced better outcomes, including decreased delirium and invasive mechanical ventilation duration.

Methods: This was a quality improvement project in a 24-bed pediatric ICU within a single center, including subjects ≤ 18 years old who required invasive mechanical ventilation via an oral or nasal endotracheal tube. The aim was to decrease the invasive mechanical ventilation duration for all the subjects by 25% within 9 months through the development and implementation of bundled benzodiazepine-sparing analgosedation and extubation readiness testing clinical pathways.