This tutorial is about Volume Guaranteed Pressure Support – known generally as Volume Support (VS). This, I believe, is an underused mode of ventilation in most ICUs – who prefer to use pressure support. Essentially you specify the desired tidal volume and the ventilator alters to pressure support from breath to breath to deliver something akin to that volume. There is little precision, but – as pressure support is biologically variable anyway – the presence of a volume averaged set of tidal breaths is reassuring, particularly if the bedside practitioner is distracted or inexperienced.
In the tutorial I explain how to set up volume support, what it looks like on three different ventilators – Puritan Bennett, Drager Evita and Servo-i and the strengths and limitations.