Speakers
Dr. Yeow CHAN
Dr Chan Yeow is an Anaesthesiologist and Intensivist from Singapore. He attended his fellowship in Intensive Care at the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre as well as the Alfred in Melbourne in 2004. In 2009 , together with his colleagues, they started a home ventilation pilot programme in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. This went on to receive Singapore Government pilot programme funding in 2011, before finally obtaining mainstream funding in 2022. The TTSH HVRSS team have attended team training in London, Paris and Toronto, and have hosted visiting experts from many countries. TTSH HVRSS currently looks after approximately 200 ventilator users in the community.
Home mechanical ventilation began in the 1960s in Europe following the polio epidemic. Of particular note, the physician who “invented” intensive care and chronic ventilation , Dr Bjorn Ibsen, was an anaesthetist.
Home Ventilation offers individuals with chronic respiratory insufficiency improved survival and, with the right interventions, acceptable quality of life. For this to happen, physicians need to apply their knowledge and skills in physiology, physics, acute and chronic care, mechanics of ventilation, patient education and team management to help chronic ventilator users survive with comfort, facility in communication , and even participate in professional and recreational activities. In the 21st century, more ventilator users should be able to live like Stephen Hawking and Christopher Reeves, if only we doctors care to learn how to help them.
This presentation introduces some of the key elements of chronic ventilation, including the conditions suitable for chronic ventilation; differences between acute and chronic ventilation; considerations for non-invasive ventilation; how to achieve leak speech in tracheostomy ventilation; preparing a chronic ventilation user for home discharge etc.
