German hospital capacities for prolonged mechanical ventilator weaning in neurorehabilitation – results of a representative survey

A brief survey among members of the German Neurorehabilitation Society aimed to document the hospital capacities (“beds”) for prolonged weaning from a mechanical ventilator for patients with neuro-disabilities that require simultaneous multi-professional neurorehabilitation treatment. Sixty-eight institutions declared to have capacities with a broad distribution across Germany and its federal states. Overall, 1094 “beds” for prolonged weaning (and neurorehabilitation) were reported, 871 together with further information regarding their identification and hence regional location. These units had on average 16.1 beds for prolonged weaning (95% confidence interval 12.6 to 19.6) with a range from 2 to 68 beds per organization. The data indicate substantial capacities for the combined prolonged weaning and neurorehabilitation treatment in Germany. For most “beds” included in this analysis a basic validation was possible. While a reasonable coverage of these specialized service capacities by the survey is likely, the number reported could still be biased by underreporting by non-response. Both the broad variation of number of “beds” for prolonged weaning per unit and their unequal geographical distribution across federal states (per capita rate) warrant a more refined follow-up survey that will provide insights into reasons for the observed pattern of variation for these specialized hospital capacities.