Cough augmentation techniques in critically ill patients

What is it about?

Many mechanically ventilated patients who are critically ill experience impaired airway clearing due to ineffective cough as well as impaired secretion movement. Many cough augmentation techniques such as mechanical insufflation-exsufflation (MI-E), manually assisted cough, and lung volume recruitment, can improve this. By doing an email survey in eligible Canadian units, our study sought to describe the use, indication, contraindication, interfaces, settings, complications, and barriers related to cough augmentation techniques across Canada.

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Why is it important?

Our findings showed that there was a moderate adoption of cough augmentation techniques such as the MI-E. manually assisted cough and lung volume recruitment. Cough augmentation techniques were moderately adopted, especially for secretion management. Our findings also showed that lack of expertise and knowledge as potentially modifiable barriers that can be addressed with education.