Protocols that assist clinicians to wean critically ill patients from mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU)

In the complex care environment of the ICU, protocols for weaning patients from mechanical ventilation optimise the process; reduce ventilation duration and ICU length of stay and the risk of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP). This results in cost savings. Blackwood’s programme of research in the field of mechanical ventilation and its weaning has impacted internationally on clinical practice in ICUs. It has successfully guided intensive care clinicians to develop context specific protocols for weaning and is incorporated into international clinical guidelines for preventing VAP. It has informed a recent European position paper on protocolised weaning.