Breath of Fresh Data: Enhancing non-invasive ventilation (NIV) Patient Care across a State-wide Service

Abstract

Background: The Victorian Respiratory Support Service (VRSS) provides long-term management for patients with chronic respiratory failure. An expanding patient base (497 in 2000, 2,031 in 2024) necessitates service development. Integration of non-invasive ventilator (NIV) data from ResMed Airview™ (San Diego, CA, USA) presented an opportunity to review these data at a “whole of service” level. Aim: To pilot a summarised, data visualisation system for the VRSS. Methods: Airview™ data were ingested daily into the hospital data warehouse and queried. Categories of adherence were; average usage/month, days used/month and average leak/month. Hours of NIV use was categorised as sufficient, moderate, or insufficient (>6, 4-6, or <4 hrs/day), days used/month as sufficient or insufficient (<80%>), and mask leak (<24> L/min) as acceptable or excessive. Results: This analysis included 748 patients. 557 patients had sufficient usage, but only 290 patients had both sufficient NIV usage and acceptable leak. Conversely, 107 patients had insufficient NIV use with 59 having both insufficient NIV usage and excessive mask leak. Discussion: These data are consistent with previous literature suggesting that while poor NIV adherence may be observed in people who experience “excessive” leak, “excessive” leak as determined by manufacturer limits does not always align with inadequate NIV adherence.(1) Data such as these enable novel models for participant care, especially triaging of ongoing clinical needs, to be proposed. Conclusion: The interactive report provides opportunities for comparison of real-life data with the literature and enables planning for trials of novel service models.