Levine's framework in long-term ventilated patients during the weaning course.

Within the context of Levine's conceptual framework, this study evaluated fatigue and protein calorie malnutrition affecting adult, long-term ventilated patients during the weaning process. Levine's principles of energy and structural integrity provided the basis for an evaluation of the fatigue and prealbumin levels for 11 patients. During the weaning process (1 to 4 weeks), fatigue data were collected at multiple points while prealbumin levels were collected weekly. Statistically significant findings revealed that long-term ventilated patients had distinctive fatigue trends in addition to trends associated with low prealbumin levels, which can affect the patient's weaning ability.