Volume control ventilation refers to those modes of ventilation where the ventilator has been set to deliver particular "goal" volumes of air as specified by the operator. Another way to think of the volume parameter is as a limit placed on the ventilator: it won't deliver any more volume than the amount specified. Since pressure is not the variable set in these modes, the ventilator will use whatever pressure it needs to reach its volume goal. One advantage of this mode is that you can be sure the patient is receiving at least a certain volume of air, either per breath, per minute or both.

Examples of volume-control ventilation include Synchronized Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation (SIMV) and Assist-Control Ventilation (AC). In practice, Assist Control is the mode you will encounter most commonly in the Medical ICU.

Assist-Control Ventilation is often the initial ventilation mode of choice in ICU patients. Here the ventilator will deliver a guaranteed minute ventilation, regardless of patient effort: the breathing is said to be mandatory (this mode is also sometimes referred to as Continuous Mandatory Ventilation, or CMV). This is advantageous in patients who may have a compromised respiratory drive, for whatever reason. Additionally, the patient can trigger breaths through their own effort: here the ventilator will also deliver the pre-specified tidal volume. This can become a problem when the patient is more alert and taking too many breaths on their own; they become dys-synchronous with the ventilator, and require higher levels of sedation.