low pressure alarm if trach comes out?

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This might be a dumb question, but it's never happened to me before.

Does a low pressure alarm on an LTV 950 turn on if the trach comes out?

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Specializes in Pulmonary, Cardiac.

When the trach becomes disconected our vent alarms a continous beep beep beep. If it's a high pressure alarm like coughing or built up secretions, it beep 3 times but stops. So yes you would get an alarm if it is disconnected, probably a continous alarm.

Hope that helps.

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I want to clarify. I am wondering if it will alarm a low pressure alarm if the trach comes out of the patient.

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If vent is not connected to anything, you should get an alarm. :)

It's been a while, but the usual alarms and responses were:

Low:- reconnect tubing (and if the trach is lying next to the patient, that would qualify as disconnected).

High: suction, clear condensation from the tubing.

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I have had the low min volume alarm for this, probably because the trach may not totally come out. With the distinct sounds this vent has, you'd probably hear something amiss before it would low pressure alarm.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I want to clarify. I am wondering if it will alarm a low pressure alarm if the trach comes out of the patient.

Yes because the vent is not longer connected .......is your patient OK? Get help....

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Specializes in ICU, ER.

I'm not familiar with the LTV 950, but every vent I've ever seen would alarm low pressure if the trach came out.

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Specializes in OR, peds, PALS, ICU, camp, school.

Yes, I distinctly remember having to connect an anesthesia bag to the vent when we'd let my patient off vent for a short period so we didn't get a low pressure alarm. Disconnecting the vent will have the same effect as decannulation. We used an LTV. I can't recall exactly the tone of the vent, however. Now that I'm back in acute care I can sit here and channel the tones of the Puritan... 3 days after my last shift, LOL.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

All mechanical ventilation utilizes positive pressure to deliver a respiration. In contrast, a spontaneous breathing patient respires using negative pressure. If the ventilator is set to deliver positive pressure ventilations and whatever is connected to the circuit is disconnected (whether it be a trach or endotracheal tube) the ventilator will sense the lack of positive pressure created with each delivered tidal volume and hence alarms go off.

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Specializes in CCT.

IF the low pressure parameters are set the vent should give a low pressure (and possibly) a low exhaled volume alarm if the device it's delivering ventilations through becomes dislodged.

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Ok, thank you for all your help. No worries. It was not happening at the time I asked the question. I was just curious. Everyone is ok. :)

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Errrmmmm.....

Ok, so what I did was just attach a trach to the vent to see if it would alarm. Nothing happened. I put my hand over it and the High Pressure alarm sounded. But, when I let off, no low pressure alarm.

I just wanted to mention that, just in case someone else had the same question.

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