Lowering tidal volumes in effort to reduce lung injury following initiation of mechanical ventilation is far from a new idea, the original ARDS-NET data are nearly 20 years old. Lung protective ventilatory strategies have progressively been shown, from the ICU and now into the ED setting, to decrease ventilator days, ICU/hospital stay and overall mortality. This discussion covers the original ARDS-NET study, causes of ventilator induced lung injury, and closes with MCHD’s efforts to initiate lung protective settings in ventilated patients in the prehospital setting.

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