Effectiveness of Prone Positioning in Patients with COVID-19-Related Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Undergoing Invasive Mechanical Ventilation

Abstract

The prone position is a non-invasive technique resulting from the mobilization of the patient, where the person is lying horizontally face down. This technique has been used since the 1970s, but it has gained great relevance in the last year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic with the use of invasive mechanical ventilation. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of the prone position in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome as a consequence of the COVID-19 disease who are mechanically ventilated and admitted to the intensive care unit. To demonstrate the nursing care carried out and to identify the respiratory benefits of the prone position in this type of patient. Data sources, study eligibility criteria: The search for articles was carried out from January 2018 to June 2021, in five databases (Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scielo, Dialnet, and WOS), based on the clinical question, using the keywords derived from the DeCS and MeSH thesauri, combined with the Boolean operators “AND”, “NOT”, and “OR”. The search was limited to publications from the last 6 years, in English. Results: After applying the selection criteria and evaluating the quality of the methodology, 12.14% (n = 21) of the 173 results were included with filters: 3 bibliographic reviews, 1 narrative review, 2 systematic review, 7 descriptive (4 series of cases and 3 of cross section), and 8 analytical (6 of cohorts and 2 of cases and controls). Conclusions and implications of key findings: The prone position in adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome improves oxygenation, in conjunction with invasive mechanical ventilation, from the second cycle and in prolonged pronation episodes. This technique improves oxygenation by increasing alveolar recruitment and inspiratory capacity in the dorsal pulmonary areas.