[Ventjock]

Originally Posted by janfrn

Excellent tutorial on HFOV, Ventjock! The orientation of new nurses in our unit skips right over HFOV and when we put someone on the oscillator, these "new" nurses (of which we have an unbelievable number these days) don't know anything about why we use it or what their patient is going to do. Then when the kid's pressure tanks, they're stunned. Might I steal your presentation?

yes, actually i "stole" it from a presentation. they are my notes based on an HFOV lecture. again these are not hard rules, but a starting place. physician preference will dictate when to make changes, what is considered a safe starting point, etc.
(my notes from class are essentially the same.)

fyi the above are rules for adults.
i will try to post settings for neos and pedi patients tomorrow.

[RainDreamer]

Great info!

Just wanted to add that we rarely ever disconnect the HFOV (for suctioning, respositioning, etc), as it takes hours to recruit the alveoli.

[marilynmom]

Thanks so much VentJock! I'm printing that off to keep it with me to refer to.

[Ventjock]

Originally Posted by RainDreamer

Great info!

Just wanted to add that we rarely ever disconnect the HFOV (for suctioning, respositioning, etc), as it takes hours to RErecruit the alveoli.

some studies have shown that it can take up to 24hrs to "RE-recruit" the lungs again after disconnecting the ventilator circuit. (this applies to pts on conventional vents as well)

[RainDreamer]

Originally Posted by Ventjock

some studies have shown that it can take up to 24hrs to "RE-recruit" the lungs again after disconnecting the ventilator circuit. (this applies to pts on conventional vents as well)

Recruit as in first recruiting ..... RE-recruiting as in once they have been recruited, disconnected, and need to be recruited again

Just thought I would throw that out there because a big red flag pops up for me when I see things like "disconnect from the HFOV". Our unit is big on never disconnecting unless absolutely necessasry .... didn't know if that was standard practice.

[elizabells]

Originally Posted by RainDreamer

Just thought I would throw that out there because a big red flag pops up for me when I see things like "disconnect from the HFOV". Our unit is big on never disconnecting unless absolutely necessasry .... didn't know if that was standard practice.

We don't have that as standard on our unit. We're so suction-happy, and don't use inline suction, that a kid's HFOV could get disconnected ten times a shift, if they "need" suctioning that often. We also sometimes do crazy, McGyver-esque things with nebulizers and oscillators. It makes our RTs VERY unhappy, because it ends up ruining an entire circuit. Iloprost can make pretty, pretty crystals all along the wires inside an oscillator circuit...

[RainDreamer]

The only time we ever disconnect is with the HFJV, as there is no inline suctioning on the jets .... so we have to disconnect.