THE impressionist artist Claude Monet painted a series of haystacks, Les Meules à Giverny. He famously produced 14 paintings in a single day as he noted that the sun changed position every 7 min.1  Much as observations of color are subject to the influence of atmospheric conditions on the refraction of light, our assessments of complex biologic systems may also change with differences in perspective. While static measurements, such as Pao2 or plateau pressure, are heavily relied upon for their diagnostic value, dynamic measurements can reveal additional insights into disease trajectory or treatment response.

In this issue of Anesthesiology, Gattarello et al. provide thought provoking data on the value of mechanical power and other dynamic measures of respiratory function in spontaneously breathing COVID-19 patients in acute respiratory failure.2  They performed a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort of 111 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia...

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