Driving Pressure #emergencymedicine #criticalcare #intubation

Added: 2026-04-28

[00:00:00]You've intubated the patient. You've started your analesia and sedation package. You even calculated ideal body weight to enter your initial vent settings. You've already done a ton of work. But there is still more to do.

[00:00:12]We've got to make sure that our vent settings aren't harming our patients lungs. And the best way to do that is by looking at driving pressure. Driving pressure is the pressure over the PEEP that's required to deliver a title volume. It's calculated by subtracting PEEP from your plateau pressure. and our target is a driving pressure somewhere between 10 and 12 centimeters of water.

[00:00:33]Definitely want to avoid having it over 15 centimeters of water. There's a good amount of data showing that higher driving pressures are associated with higher mortality. If you check your driving pressure and it's too high, you can start by dropping your title volume and optimizing your sedation. The ease of getting this measurement and the potential impact on mortality makes it the ideal marker in the emergency department. Bottom line is that we want to protect our patients lungs by checking the driving pressure and titrating it to a number between 10 and 12 centimeters of