HME

[mnirishrose]

I think I may have left a client's heat and moisture exchanger on during his time on the vent last night. I am not sure if I actually removed it, and he did not require suctioning during the night where I would know for sure. The problem is he also has a heated himidifier for yhe vent. His O2 sats were about 95% throughout the night, as per normal. This is bothering me so much that I may have left it on in error. What do you all think? What am I to do? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[vanilla bean]

What am I to do? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

There's nothing to be done now as the time has passed to remedy the mistake. What you should do going forward is learn from this and be sure to remove the HME when placing the patient on his heated/humidified vent circuit.

It has been my experience, as I've seen this happen a handful of times over the years, that if the HME is in place long enough to cause a problem, you'll notice an increased work of breathing and possibly a change in vitals (think of how it would feel to breathe through a saturated wet sponge). If your assessments overnight were stable and unchanged, *either* you didn't actually leave the HME inline or it was not inline long enough to cause a problem.