Ventilator Talk

Due to Hudson's lung issues I thought it would be important to discuss some of the respiratory treatment talk as best as I can.  This discussion will be to the best of my knowledge and how much I understand about the various changes the doctors do to Hudson's ventilator settings.  The five main areas I will discuss are PEEP, PIP, MAP, Rate and Oxygen level. 

PEEP - is the term used to refer to the amount of constant pressure Hudson's lung have from the machine.  It will never go below this amount of air pressure.  Because Hudson is having parts of his lungs  collapse at various times, they amount of air pressure he currently needs is pretty high, at 11.2 with a setting of 12 being on the high end.

PIP - is the amount of deep breaths given during a minute. From my understanding, the deep breaths allow the lungs to get rid of the Carbon Dioxide easier.  An ideal number the respiratory therapists or RT's want is low 20's.  That would mean that the patient is taking the deep breaths on their own and does need the support from the ventilator.  Friday Hudson was at 40 (high) and due to his continual improvement he is down to 35.  Small, gradual changes are great.  We do not want anything quick. 

MAP - this is the mean area pressure (i think) and it is basically exactly as it sounds.  It is the average amount of pressure the vent is providing to expand Hudson's lungs.  If I had to guess, MAP is the combination of PEEP and PIP.  In the picture below, Hudson is at 13.4.

Rate - This is the amount of breaths he gets a minute.  Hudson has had rates of 360 and currently is at 300.  If you do the math, that is either 6 breaths a second or 5 breaths a second.  That also helps keep his lungs expanded to prevent or open up from collapsed lungs. 

 The top numbers are actual and while the yellow numbers are the settings the vent is set at.  I don't know about the rest of the settings. 

 

 

Oxygen - This is the amount of oxygen Hudson needs to be at his best.  Room air is 21% oxygen and that is the amount they will get him too.  The last day or so he has been between 35% - 50%.  This is much better than the 100% he was on only a handful of days ago.  The oxygen amount is on a different machine and is the knob or dial on the bottom right.  It's hard to see, but that's the oxygen dial. It is underneath the blue tag with 122 on it.

 

 

These are the two vent machines known as the JET ventilator.