Under the supervision of a MET, in our institution NIV could be applied in a wide variety of settings, outside the ICU, with a high success rate and with few complications.

We identified 15 treatments that decreased/increased mortality in critically ill patients in 24 multicenter randomized controlled trials. However, design affected trial size and larger trials were more likely to show harm. Finally, clinicians view of such trials and their translation into practice varied.

A target-controlled concentration of 1 ng mL(-1) remifentanil results in a 57% decrease in the MAC(BAR) of desflurane combined with 60% nitrous oxide. Increasing the target concentration of remifentanil to 3 ng mL(-1) produces a further 26% decrease in the MAC(BAR) values of desflurane.