mechanical ventilation

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Mode:

Flinders Medical Centre’s preset mode for mechanical ventilation is Synchronised intermittent mandatory ventilation (SIMV).

SIMV achieves a mandatory minute ventilation by,

Mandatory controlled breathing
Assisted breaths which are synchronised with a patient trigger
Spontaneously triggered and patient controlled breaths often with assistance (Tol & Palmer 2010).

Mandatory breaths deliver a preset volume over a set time, Synchronised breaths still give mandatory breaths which are preset but are synchronised with respiratory effort reducing the danger of breath stacking causing barotruama, and spontaneous breaths are initiated and controlled by the patient including respiratory rate and tidal volumes, and may be assisted with added pressure (Aitken, Elliott & Chaboyer 2012).

For Mr J, SIMV is appropriate because it supports him while he is initially unresponsive, and when his breathing starts to improve, it enables his dependance upon mechanical ventilation to be weaned, and lets him increasingly contribute to his minute ventilation building up his own strength (Tol & Palmer 2010).

Mr J was extubated only 48 hours after admission so SIMV was an appropriate choice.

Mandatory Breath Type:

Flinders Medical Centre’s preset mandatory breath type is volume control.
Volume controlled breathing includes,

Preset tidal volume and minute volume being reached consistently with the ability to manage carbon dioxide elimination (Rose 2006).
A set tidal volume independent from the compliance and resistance ability of the lung, and if airway pressures are not monitored, injury can occur from over distention, barotrauma, and even lower cardiac output (Rose 2006).

Mr J’s peak plateau pressures (the pressures applied to the a...

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...ing in a spontaneous breath by the patient, is a flow trigger set with the sensitivity at 3L/min.

A continuous flow of 3L/min travels through the circuit of the ventilator continuously, and so this means that for a patient to take a spontaneous breath, they will need to divert more than 3L/min of flow away from the ventilator to initiate a breath (Aitken, Elliott & Chaboyer 2012). If set too low, water or movement in tubing could cause auto triggering and result in patient ventilator asynchrony, but if set too high, it would be hard for a weak patient to initiate a breath (Chatburn 2012).

In relation to Mr J, he was unresponsive and not making any respiratory effort to initiate his own breathing, so the flow trigger will not be used. But as the sedation wears off it will be used and allow Mr J to breath with a small amount of effort.

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