Mechanical Ventilation

You'd be better off to talk to one of your respiratory therapists. Most of them are eager to answer questions and are a wealth of knowledge. And they are usually able to explain it in a manner that is understandable. Mechanical ventilation can be quite complicated.

Agreed. Pick the brain of the next RT that crosses your path. Never hurts to have a few friends in that arena as well.

Ask RT or your pulmonary or critical care service folks. They'll be your best resources. Here is a link to some introductory information that you might find useful. CCM Tutorial

I am more concerned with you having a preceptor that has been an ICU RN for less than one year. THAT is a problem.

Agreed. Pick the brain of the next RT that crosses your path. Never hurts to have a few friends in that arena as well.

They love to explain this stuff, this is their area of expertise. I also totally agree to have some friends in the RT. I was very close to the RT's and when I called, they answered, thank God. The other nurses would have me call them to get them to come.... They do save your butt sometimes.

When I started int he ICU I didn't know much about it, but I picked their brains any chance I had ot educate myself. It'll come in due time.

I agree, your best info will be from an RT. Does your facility have new nurses go through ACCN ECCO training. It was very helpful for me.

Good luck to you!

Rhonda

I am more concerned with you having a preceptor that has been an ICU RN for less than one year. THAT is a problem.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that finds this concerning.

You should check out the podcast by Jeffrey Guy called ICU Rounds. I learned of it from a post on this website. He's got one podcast from 5/13/07 titled Mode of Mechanical Ventilation. Very informative, hope it helps you as much as it did me!

Not to mention the 8 billion other ventilatory modes available today.

Ask your RTs as they will have the most information, and will be able to explain things to you in the most comprehensive way. In the meantime, you could try this website: Adult Ventilation Management Online Nursing Continuing Education Course

I am still in nursing school, but I recently had to do a rotation with a respiratory therapist. We got to choose an area we were interested in, and then we were allowed to observe respiratory as they worked in that area. Since I want to be a critical care nurse, I chose the ICU. After my observation, I had to write a paper about ventilation, ventilator modes, respiratory meds, etc. I used the website above to write some of my paper. It has an explanation of the vent modes, and also includes other information. I hope that helps.

Heres an easy explanation. Assist control is the vent doing the work but the patient can take his own breaths.

CPAP is a weaning mode where the patient is breathing on his own but the vent will kick in if needed. Signs of weaning failure: high respirations

Those are the only settings we use in our unit.

Alarms: High pressure is when the tube is occluded somewhere from biting, plugs, mucus, and if all else fails the filter between the the tubes.

Low pressure is when something is off, or leaking.

Thats all we nurses worry about in our unit, the rest Respiratory takes care of.