We spoke to Juan Valle Ortiz from Newcastle, Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care. He is involved in the PaNGEa project (www. pangeacambridge.co.uk), and is an ESPNIC ventilation instructor. He’s also a singer!



What is non invasive ventilation? Does it work? What are the thresholds for starting NIV? S/F ratios: are they useful in clinical practice? How do we know that NIV has been effective? How long do we have to assess benefit before mortality starts to rise? What are the reasons for NIV failure?



When can we deliver “extreme” NIV? Should we use NIV in sepsis or multi organ failure? What about asthma? What pressures are deliverable, and safe, through NIV? What are the highest pressures we have given non invasively?



Which ventilators do we use and which are our favourites? What is the most critical part of the non invasive ventilation apparatus? (hint: it’s the usual answer 😊)



Why is invasive ventilation still prioritised over non invasive, culturally?



Finally, what courses are available in the UK?



And of course, the DO2 equation makes an appearance.