Foundation Course in Acute Respiratory Failure and Mechanical Ventilation

ARF & MV Pathway Directors

• Leo HEUNKS MD, PhD Professor, Pneumologist-intensivist, Department of Intensive Care, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Lise PIQUILLOUD MD, PhD Deputy ICU Physician, Adult Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland; Senior lecturer University of Lausanne, Switzerland; Chair elect ARF section ESICM

Course Directors Level 1:

• Luigi CAMPOROTA MD PhD FRCP FFICM Consultant Intensivist at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, Greater London, United Kingdom
• Oriol ROCA MD PhD Director of Critical Care, Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari, Sabadell, Spain

Endorsement: The course is endorsed by the Acute Respiratory Failure Section, ESICM.

• To review the fundamentals of the physiology of gas exchange and respiratory mechanics
• To understand the principles of the basic modes of mechanical ventilation
• To learn the basic principles of assessing lung mechanics
• To discuss the main aspects of the process of weaning from mechanical ventilation

• Fundamentals of physiology gas exchange and respiratory mechanics (equation of motion, dynamic and static compliance, elastance, plateau pressure, driving pressure, resistance, and their measurements, lung volumes and Pressure -Volume curves)
• Concepts of basic modes of mechanical ventilation (mandatory/controlled; Assist/control; Assisted; spontaneous ventilation).
• Volume-controlled modes and pressure-controlled modes (excluding APRV)
• Concept of “stress-relaxation” and P0, P1, P2 on pressure waveforms
• Concept of scalars (pressure-time and flow-time curves) vs loops
• Assessment of lung mechanics, identification of small airway closure and recruitability concepts
• Fundamentals of prone position
• Respiratory drive, inspiratory effort, work of breathing and dyspnoea
• Assessment of readiness to wean and spontaneous breathing trials
• Use of NIV and HFNC post-extubation (selecting interface, settings and patient selection)

A total of 5 fellowships will be conducted in centres around Europe, giving fellows the opportunity to experience management of acute respiratory failure and mechanical ventilation in real-life settings and learn directly from experts. Fellowship-related costs (accommodation and travel) up to 1000 EUR/fellow will be reimbursed by ESICM.

Eligibility for fellowships:

• Must be a member of the ESICM (so join us now if not already a member!)
• Must attend at least 2 levels of the Acute Respiratory Failure and Mechanical Ventilation pathway within 1 year
• Fellowships will be awarded on basis of attendance at the course and highest performance in the post-course evaluation.

Fellowship center and mentor:

• Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari, Sabadell, Spain – Oriol ROCA and the local team (February 24-28, 2025)

Note! Priority will be given to those participants who haven’t benefitted from a fellowship on this topic before.

• Junior intensivists seeking a thorough approach to Acute Respiratory Failure & Mechanical Ventilation: monitoring and managament
• Any practitioner who wishes to review the foundamentals of this topic

IMPORTANT! A total of 10 places will be offered for FREE to participants coming from Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC), as per the World Bank classification.If you are interested to apply for an LMIC place, send us your letter of interest and CV to education@esicm.org. Applicants from LMIC may be selected for a maximum of 3 ESICM eCourses for FREE every year. Applicants who have participated in 1 eCourse as a free LMIC applicant need to have an active ESICM membership for the current year before applying again.

Applications close 1 month before the Live Event.

An application will be made to the UEMS EACCME® for CME accreditation of this event.

The first edition of the Foundation Course provided an introduction to Acute Respiratory Failure & Mechanical Ventilation to 94 participants from 32 countries. Here’s what they particularly enjoyed about it:

• The overall content was fascinating. Sometimes slightly difficult from a nursing point of view but having the possibility to review the lectures will allow me to go over it again and wrap my head around the things I found more difficult.
• It was very comprehensive of all the basics of MV and more, with each session providing extremely useful tips even when some of the topics were already “fully” or partially known. This was made possible by the interaction and space for questions provided.
• I really appreciated the predisposition of all the experts to answer questions from the audience.