IPPB

Since the advent of cpap and bipap, IPPB has pretty much fallen by the wayside. I work ICU and have not seen it used in the last 10 years or so at all. I was actually talking to an RT the other nite about it and he was also saying that at our hospital they do not even have an IPPB machine anymore.

We have a couple of docs who write for IPPB on a regular basis - I see the machine used more often than I would have thought possible. Of course, they also write for CPT on patients who cannot be turned or mobilized, which defies logic.

Either way, there's little evidence for the efficacy of the practice. I think some docs just like the sound of the machine and think "it must be doing something - listen to the noise it's making!"

And as regards the OP's question, IPPB is the same as assist-control on a ventilator with fixed peak pressures. I've not seen it used as an interim step to intubation and/or continuous mechanical ventilation.

Having been a respiratory therapist in the 70's IPPB was what a respiratory treatment was. We used a Bird respirator, we set the pressure at 15 and the treatment lasted 20 minures. IPPB translate into intermittent positive pressure breathing. The patient starts the breath and the machine then inflates the lungs to the set pressure. In that regard yes, it is similar to a demand ventilator. We spent alot time waking people in PACU. I've heard there is actually talk of bringing IPPB treatments back. One of the reason I'm a nurse now instead of still in respiratory is that we used to actually DO something instead of handing a patient their nebulizer and coming back in 15 minutes to shut it off.