Ventilation at Home
Our ventilator care team includes physician, respiratory therapist and specially trained nurses to take care of ventilator patients. Mechanical ventilation is utilized in intensive care and long-term care settings to assist patients who require additional respiratory support.
- Maintain a patent airway. Per policy, note endotracheal (ET) tube position and confirm that it is secue.
- Assess oxygen saturation, bilateral breath sounds for adequate air movement, and respiratory rate per policy.
- Check vital signs per policy, particularly blood pressure after a ventilator setting is changed. Mechanical ventilation increases intrathoracic pressure, which could affect blood pressure and cardiac output.
- Assess patient’s pain, anxiety and sedation needs and medicate as ordered.
- Complete bedside check: ensure suction equipment, bag-valve mask and artificial airway are functional and present at bedside. Verify ventilator settings with the prescribed orders.
- Suction patient only as needed, per facility policy; hyper oxygenate the patient before and after suctioning and do not instil normal saline in the ET tube; suction for the shortest time possible and use the lowest pressure required to remove secretions. Monitor for upper airway trauma as evidenced by new blood in secretions
- Monitor arterial blood gas (ABG) after adjustments are made to ventilator settings and during weaning to ensure adequate oxygenation and acid-base balance.
- To minimize the risk for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), implement best practices such as strict handwashing; aseptic technique with suctioning; elevating head of bed 30-45 degrees (unless contraindicated); providing sedation vacations and assessing patient’s readiness to extubate; providing peptic ulcer disease prophylaxis; providing deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis; and performing oral care with chlorhexidine, per your facility policy.
Meet Our Care Managers
Our administration and support staff all have exceptional people skills and trained to assist you with all medical enquiries
Opening Hours
Saturday – Thursday 9.00 am – 6:00 pm