Long-term ventilator facilities play an increasingly important role in the care of chronically critically ill patients in the recovery phase of their acute illness. These hospitals can take several forms, depending on the country and health system, including �step-down� units within acute care hospitals and dedicated centres that specialize in weaning patients from prolonged mechanical ventilation. These hospitals may improve outcomes through increased clinical experience at applying protocolized weaning approaches and specialized, multidisciplinary, rehabilitation-focused care; they may also worsen outcomes by fragmenting the episode of acute care across multiple hospitals, leading to communication delays and hardship for families. Long-term ventilator facilities may also have important �spillover effects�, in that they free ICU beds in acute care hospitals to be filled with greater numbers of acute critically ill patients. Current evidence suggests that mortality of chronically critically ill patients is equivalent between acute care hospitals and specialized weaning centres; however, mechanical ventilation may be longer and cost of care higher in patients who remain in acute care hospitals. Given the rising incidence of prolonged mechanical ventilation and capacity constraints on acute care ICUs, long-term ventilator hospitals are likely to serve a key function in critical illness recovery.
The Role of Long-term Acute Care Hospitals in Treating the Critically Ill and Medically Complex
