Abstract: The over-all management of respiratory failure has been much facilitated by the setling of modern respiratory intensive care unit with improved techniques in the patient care and monitoring of patients with RF.During the periods from October 1984 to April 1985,and from October 1985 to April 1996 when the RICU was applied,there were 106 cases（56 males,50 females）of chronic RF.96 cases of these were cases of respiratory failure associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease（COPD）and 9 were patients rdmitted for acute respiratory failure with becauses of other respiratory diseases.The mortality from respiratory failure was reduced in patients thus treated the mortality in 96 cases with acute respiratory failure due to COPD being 11.5%. The improved survival rate may also be attributed in part to the aggressive use of intubetion and tracheostomy for assisted ventilation in those patients who failed to respond to conservative therapy.