The Hospital da Luz Lisboa Intensive Care Service has just published a study in 'Critical Care Explorations', one of the most important scientific journals in the specialty, on the impact that the correct measurement of the patient's height has on the calculation of the tidal volume of air to be applied during protective invasive mechanical ventilation. The published work presents the results of a prospective observational study, which covered 100 patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Hospital da Luz Lisboa, and which concludes that there are clear clinical benefits for patient safety if a calculated protective ventilation strategy is adopted from the precise measurement of the height of these patients. Visual height estimation to calculate tidal volumes can be “ a harmful approach and potentially increase mortality by exposing patients to higher tidal volumes ” than recommended. Other strategies that do not involve the greatest possible precision in determining the height of the patient imply an increase in the degree of risk, which the authors of the study conclude to be preventable. « In the interest of patient safety, all inmates at the ICU must have their height measured accurately », write the experts at HL Lisboa in the published article. Thus, they conclude, " measuring the height of all ventilated patients with a caliper (an instrument identical to that used to measure newborns) is a simple and inexpensive solution that can increase patient safety ". The article is signed by André Rosa Alexandre (the first author), Filipa Ramalho Rocha , Luís Landeiro , Pedro Mota , Joana Jones and José Andrade Gomes , doctors of the Intensive Care, Internal Medicine and Anesthesiology teams at Hospital da Luz Lisboa. ‘Critical Care Explorations’ is a journal by the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the largest medical organization in this specialty and has members from more than 100 countries around the world. “Impact of Height Estimation on Tidal Volume Calculation for Protective Ventilation—A Prospective Observational Study”
