Long-term non-invasive ventilation in children: Transition from hospital to home.

• Summarize potential benefits, risks, and outcomes for LT-NIV use for children following acute or crucial illness. • Understand the process of LT-NIV initiation in your centre. • Identify key steps for transition planning for LT-NIV in your centre. • Evaluate a transition plan for LT-NIV hospital to home in your centre. Long-term non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is an accepted therapy for sleep-related respiratory disorders and respiratory insufficiency or failure. Increase in the use of long-term NIV may, in part, be driven by an increase in the number of children surviving critical illness with comorbidities. As a result, some children start on long-term NIV as part of transitioning from hospital to home. NIV may be used in acute illness to avoid intubation, facilitate extubation or support tracheostomy decannulation, and to avoid the need for a tracheostomy for long-term invasive ventilation. The decision about whether long-term NIV is appropriate for an individual child and their family needs to be made with care. Preparing for transition from the hospital to home involves understanding how NIV equipment is obtained and set-up, education and training for parents/caregivers, and arranging a plan for clinical follow-up. While planning for these transitions is challenging, the goals of a shorter time in hospital and a child living well at home with their family are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]