Transitioning children requiring long-term ventilation from hospital to home: a practical guide

Prior to 2000, few regions needed any long-tern ventilation (LTV) service for children either in hospital or in the community. Since 2000, many countries, including the UK have seen an explosion in the number of children requiring LTV support at home. Treatment pathways and services for children requiring LTV support have developed in an ad hoc fashion with little evidence to justify practice. In this review, we consider the essential elements of a home ventilation service for children invasively ventilated via tracheostomy and discuss day-to-day practicalities and common hurdles encountered in transitioning patients home.