In SIMV, spontaneous breaths are provided with what type of support?

In SIMV (Synchronized Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation), spontaneous breaths are provided with pressure support. This is because pressure support helps augment the patient's own breathing efforts during the spontaneous breaths, allowing them to inhale more comfortably and effectively. The ventilator delivers a preset level of pressure to assist with each spontaneous breath, ensuring that the patient can achieve a sufficient tidal volume without having to exert excessive effort.

Using pressure support during spontaneous breaths achieves several goals. It helps to reduce the work of breathing, facilitates better gas exchange, and can enhance patient comfort by providing support as they breathe spontaneously. This supportive mechanism is crucial for patients who may have compromised respiratory function but still have the ability to initiate breaths on their own.

In contrast, volume support is more commonly associated with ensuring a specific tidal volume for mandatory breaths rather than spontaneous ones. Flow support is not typically a term used in this context, and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) is a technique used to maintain end-expiratory lung volume and improve oxygenation but does not directly assist with the pressure during spontaneous inhalation.