Predictors of extubation failure after open-chest cardiac surgery based on routinely collected data. The importance of a shared interprofessional clinical assessment.

Background: Extubation failure (ExtF) is associated with prolonged hospital length of stay and mortality in adult cardiac surgery patients postoperatively. In this population, ExtF-related variables such as the arterial partial pressure of oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen ratio (PaO/FiO), rapid shallow breathing index, cough strength, endotracheal secretions and neurological function have been sparsely researched.

Aim: To identify variables that are predictive of ExtF and related outcomes.