Protocol directed weaning has been shown to reduce the duration of mechanical ventilation for patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of tertiary centres. However, this benefit has not previously been studied in a community hospital setting. We therefore sought to evaluate the impact of an evidence-based weaning guideline on the outcomes for patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the ICUs of community hospitals in a cluster randomized controlled trial involving 11 community hospitals.

Condition	Intervention	Phase
Respiration, Artificial	Procedure: Evidence based weaning protocol	Phase III

Further Study Details: 

Primary Outcomes: ICU length of stay
Secondary Outcomes: duration of ventilation; length of hospital stay; complications (re-intubation within 48 hours, pneumonia within 48 hours); ICU mortality; Hospital mortality; ICU readmissions; Qulaity of life

Ages Eligible for Study:  16 Years and above,  Genders Eligible for Study:  Both

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients ventilated for more than 24 hours

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients less than 16 years of age patients who receive only non-invasive ventilation patients chronically ventilated at time of ICU admission patients who will not be candidates for weaning from ventilation at time of admission If withdrawl of life support is imminent at the point the patient has been ventilated for 24 hours

Canada, Ontario
      Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, Burlington,  Ontario,  L7R 4C4,  Canada
      St. Joseph’s Health Care, London,  Ontario,  N6A 4V2,  Canada
      North Bay General Hospital, North Bay,  Ontario,  P1B 5A4,  Canada
      Trillium Health Centre, Mississauga,  Ontario,  L5B 1B8,  Canada
      Lakeridge Health Corporation (Oshawa), Oshawa,  Ontario,  L1G 2B9,  Canada
      Stratford General Hospital, Stratford,  Ontario,  N5A 2Y6,  Canada
      Brant Community Health Systems, Brantford,  Ontario,  N3R 1G9,  Canada
      William Osler Health Centre (Brampton), Brampton,  Ontario,  N6W 2Z8,  Canada
      St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto,  Ontario,  M9R 1B5,  Canada
      Guelph General Hospital, Guelph,  Ontario,  N1E 4J4,  Canada
      Hotel Dieu of St. Joseph, Windsor,  Ontario,  N9A 1E1,  Canada

Study chairs or principal investigators

Ronald J Butler, MD,  Principal Investigator,  Lawson Health Research Institute   
Claudio Martin, MD,  Principal Investigator,  Lawson Health Research Institute   
Femida Gwadry-Sridhar, MSc,  Principal Investigator,  Lawson Health Research Institute   

Study ID Numbers:  01-10
Last Updated:  September 10, 2005
Record first received:  September 8, 2005
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:  NCT00157287
Health Authority: Canada: Health Canada
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on 2005-09-13