If you are looking after a patient on mechanical ventilator and want to know how to take care of ventilator patient, then this article will be of great help to you. Here I am discussing few essentials for care of ventilator dependent patients:
1- You Should Know Why Patient is On Ventilator
Before you know how to care for a patient on a ventilator, it is important to know why your patient is on ventilator. There may be many reasons like:
- To improve blood oxygen level.
- To boost/improve ventilation.
- To reverse/fix/cure fatigue of respiratory muscles.
- To permit sedation to patient.
2- Communicate Well With The Patient
It is important to properly communicate with patient on ventilator so that you are able to understand what they really need. You can use the writing tools and communication boards to ask simple questions to patient. Try to ask questions in a way that patient can respond by either YES or NO. For example you may ask “Should I turn off the light?”.
3- Make Sure Settings/Mode of Ventilator Are Correctly Set
When you enter patient’s room you should do following tasks:
- Check vitals of patient (blood pressure, pulse rate, breathing rate, temperature etc)
- Check oxygen saturation level
- Check breathing sounds of patient
- Try to assess levels of pain and anxiety of patient
- Check patient’s order and find info about ventilator being used.
- Adjust settings of ventilator according to settings suggested in patient’s order.
- Know about ventilator’s alarm settings and what you need to do when alarm beeps.
- Locate and review the use of suction equipment.
- Bag-valve mask must be available for every patient on ventilator with artificial airway.
- You must know how to hyper-ventilate and hyper-oxygenate the patient.
- You should also properly adjust respiratory rate, Tidal volume, fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2), peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) according to recommended settings by physician.
4- Assess Sedation Needs and Pain of Patient on Ventilator
Although patient on ventilator cannot talk you should be able to assess the levels of pain they are experiencing. For pain assessment you can take help of following Lego Pain Assessment Tool:
5- Prevent Ventilator Patient From Infection
Make sure that your patient is not getting any infection. Pay special attention to bed sores. Keep changing position of patient after every 2 hours to avoid pressure sores or bed sores. Do oral care of patient every day with chlorhexidine (CHX). Provide proper medications for peptic ulcer, deep vein thrombosis etc.
Last But Not Least – Educate Patient and Family
You should provide proper education to patient and family of patient about basic needs of ventilator patient. They must know what is normal and what is not normal and when to call a doctor/physician/nurse to provide immediate treatment to patient.
How We Care Ventilator Patients At Better Options Ventilator Care
At better options ventilator care, we provide 24 hours care to patient so that there is no need of any attendant or family member. We follow all standards of care for ventilator patients. We have all emergency equipment and measures to properly address all needs of patient. Although friends and family members are not necessary to stay, they are always welcome to stay at our premises and we have special rooms and facilities for them at Better Options Ventilator Care premises.
