A Taxonomy for Patient-Ventilator Interactions and a Method to Read Ventilator Waveforms

Mechanical ventilators display detailed waveforms which contain a wealth of clinically relevant information. Although much has been written about interpretation of waveforms and patient-ventilator interactions, variability remains on the nomenclature (multiple and ambiguous terms) and waveform interpretation. There are multiple reasons for this variability (legacy terms, language, multiple definitions). In addition, there is no widely accepted systematic method to read ventilator waveforms. We propose a standardized nomenclature and taxonomy along with a method to interpret mechanical ventilator displayed waveforms.