Oscillating lung sounds on a vent??

stellina615 · Nov 29, 2009

You mean auscultating?

April13RN · Nov 29, 2009

Did you mean auscultating?

babyNP., APRN · Nov 29, 2009

She probably means on an oscillator, which is a special ventilator machine that gives you hundreds of breaths per minute.

Sorry, can't help you out there; I work in the NICU and we just chart, "good jiggle" because you can't really auscultate the sounds.

HealthShepherd · Nov 29, 2009

I'm confused by this statement: "I'm going into RT and I've been told this is something to understand before I go. "

Do you mean that you are about to start school to become a respiratory therapist? If so, I'd find it quite bizarre that they expected you to be able to recognize any lung sounds before the program starts. Or is this some kind of second entry program for other kinds of health care workers?

PS In my NICU, we usually turn off the oscillator briefly in order to listen for lung/heart/belly sounds - we would only auscultate with the oscillator on to check for air entry (in which case there would be a rapid thumping noise that overwhelms the baby's own sounds).

QueenElisaRocks · Nov 29, 2009

ok. sorry. i'm still trying to keep all of the terms straight. i do mean auscultating. i'm going into my rt out-rotation, and this is one of the items i'm supposed to listen to - i'm trying to get a jump on things. i've heard the rt was kinda slow for a couple of students - and they didn't get to hear anything. i'm wanting to find an example to listen to online if at all possible.

again, sorry for the inaccurate verbiage. still working on the learning curve here.

thanks so much!!

QueenElisaRocks · Nov 29, 2009

btw... i am an rn student. granted, right now i'm looking like the goofball student :imbar - i'm usually better with my terms :specs: . thanks again for your help .

HealthShepherd · Nov 29, 2009

Oh, I see. I've never heard of "out-rotation" but I take it that your nursing school sends you to do shadowing days with non-nursing health care professions. That's actually a pretty cool idea - which other professions do you learn about? And is it just a day, or an extended period?

QueenElisaRocks · Nov 30, 2009

so far we've gotten to choose two. i chose rt and or. or was awesome! loved it! it's a great way to check out specialties and understand other departments in the hospital. we could've chosen radiology and pt as well.

QueenElisaRocks · Nov 30, 2009

oh... and it's just for a day, unfortunately. would've loved a little more time, but i'll take what i can get. 8^)

ittybabyRN, RN · Nov 30, 2009

I'm confused by this statement: "I'm going into RT and I've been told this is something to understand before I go. "
Do you mean that you are about to start school to become a respiratory therapist? If so, I'd find it quite bizarre that they expected you to be able to recognize any lung sounds before the program starts. Or is this some kind of second entry program for other kinds of health care workers?
PS In my NICU, we usually turn off the oscillator briefly in order to listen for lung/heart/belly sounds - we would only auscultate with the oscillator on to check for air entry (in which case there would be a rapid thumping noise that overwhelms the baby's own sounds).

you turn the oscillator off??? we don't even disconnect for suctioning, we use in-lines...

sunnycalifRN · Dec 1, 2009

does anyone know where i can find samples of oscillating lung sounds on a vent? i can find recordings of many other lung sounds, but nothing on a vent. i'm going into rt and i've been told this is something to understand before i go.

thanks so much!!

as a former rt, i can tell you that you do not need to know lung sounds before the program starts. you will learn everything about lung sounds; the various normal and abnormal sounds, what they mean, where they are heard, and when they are heard.

lung sounds of a ventilated patient are the same as for the patient not on a vent; only difference being that the time for inhalation and exhalation may be much shorter than for the non-vent patient, especially in nicu.