Implementation of acute respiratory distress syndrome treatment strategies by critical care physicians in Liaoning Province: a multi-center investigation

Abstract

To investigate the implementation of the currently recognized and effective treatment strategies for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in Liaoning Province in order to improve the clinical implementation of ARDS treatment strategies. From January 1st to January 31st, 2019, doctors from the department of critical care medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University applied the self-designed Questionnaire about critical care physicians' clinical behaviors on ARDS patients to investigate the critical care physicians in all levels of hospitals in Liaoning Province. The questionnaire was sent and retrieved in the form of Email and WeChat applet. The investigation included physicians' basic information and treatment behavior. The treatment strategies included 25 multiple-choice questions, such as ventilator mode, sedation, analgesia and other related questions about ARDS patients with different severities. Totally 160 questionnaires were retrieved in this study, 14 questionnaires with a completion rate of less than 75% were excluded, and there were totally 146 questionnaires finally accepted. The surveyed 146 critical care physicians came from 28 hospitals in Liaoning Province, and the majority were 25-44 years old (80.2%) and attending physicians (34.2%). Years of medical service and intensive care units (ICU) service were mainly less than 5 years (31.5% and 43.9%, respectively). 88.4% of the hospitals were Grade III Level A hospitals, 89.0% were teaching hospitals, and 48.6% had more than 2 000 beds. The number of ICU beds was mainly 10-19 (39.0%), and only 4.1% had over 60 beds. 77.2% of the hospitals did not have respiratory therapists, however there were 19.1% of the hospitals owning 1-4 respiratory therapists. Most physicians had positive implementation of currently recognized effective treatment strategies in ARDS, yet some of them still depended on the severity of the patients. More than 80% of the physicians monitored the peak pressure, plateau pressure and respiratory compliance of all ARDS patients (no significant differences between severity of illness). The control range of above monitoring indicators would be changed with patients' condition. Half of the physicians controlled the peak pressure of mild ARDS patients at 20-29 cmH2O (1 cmH2O = 0.098 kPa) and plateau pressure at 15-34 cmH2O. However, for severe patients, more physicians chose peak pressure and plateau pressure of 30-39 cmH2O (67.8%) and 25-34 cmH2O (70.3%) respectively. For the moderate to severe ARDS patients, majority of the physicians had positive implementation in improving oxygenation, choosing positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) and applying low tidal volume (LVT) strategy, while conservative method was put toward on mild patients. For severe patients, 97.3% of the physicians preferred immediate invasive mechanical ventilation, 92.4% ensured tidal volume below 8 mL/kg, 61.7% chose PEEP of 15-20 cmH2O, 97.8% applied deep sedation, 82.5% chose neuromuscular blocking agents, 82.3% preferred to prone positioning ventilation, and 84.3% of the physicians chose to use hormone therapy. For mild ARDS patients, 77.2% of the physicians chose LVT strategy and mostly control PEEP at 5-9 cmH2O. There were three main reasons that affect the physicians' implementation. The first reason was physicians' subjective attitude, the second was lacking in execution conditions, and the third was physicians' considering of the complications. Most critical care physicians in Liaoning Province had positive implementation toward the currently recognized effective ARDS treatment strategies, but a few performed poorly. According to the reasons that affected the physicians' treatment behaviors, it is necessary to strengthen physicians' awareness of treatment, apply strict training, standardize the clinical implementation of effective treatment strategies, and then improve the prognosis of ARDS patients.