Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sun Glasses at Night?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunglasses_at_Night


In his 1984 single “Sunglasses at Night” singer Corey Hart sings about wearing his sun glasses to watch his lover, as she lies and cheats on him or this is what I think the lyrics mean? I’m not one to decipher song lyrics; I just thought it was a pretty catchy tune when it was first released. Wearing sun glasses at night seems pretty idiotic, but what about night shift workers wearing sun glasses?


 

Saturday, June 25, 2011

4 Reasons Not to Use APRV

Over Inflated


Airway Pressure Release Ventilation is a modality of ventilation that has been in use for greater than 20 years. Some practitioners' believe APRV is the panacea of mechanical ventilation and utilize the mode on every ventilated patient. Before initiating APRV one should consider 4 arguments against its use.


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Performing a T-Piece Trial with the Ventilator

Utilizing the Pressure/Volume Loop to determine the appropriate pressure support level during  a simulated T-piece trial.

Many institutions perform spontaneous breathing trials with the ventilator using a small amount of PEEP (~ 5 cmH2O) and automatic tube compensation or a small amount of pressure support (~ 5 to 10 cmH2O). However, occasionally a traditional T-Piece trial may prove to be more beneficial [1].

Utilizing pressure support during a spontaneous breathing trial to off-set the work of breathing related to the artificial airway may lead to false positives, due to over compensation.

Why is this?

Saturday, June 4, 2011

SmartCare PS: Concerns with Delayed Cycling

SmartCare/PS® or SmartCare Pressure support (™ Draeger Medical, Telford, PA) is the only automated weaning ventilator mode in the United States that relies entirely on a rule-based expert system[1]. Automated modes may be useful however; the operator needs to realize the limitations before utilizing the mode in all patient populations.

Smartcare is a spontaneous mode of ventilation (CSV), which uses pressure support to augment the inspiratory efforts. The operator is allowed to change the pressurization rate (rise time), however has no control of the “Expiratory Cycling Threshold” which is one of the determinates of how a pressure support breath ends.

A Review of Pressure Support Termination