my mom is in S.I.C.U. On the ventilater machine the O2 reads?

Question

40 percent. On the machine that records your pulse and blood pressure says 100 percent oxygen. do you know how long she will be the trach ventilater?is this a good reading? RESPIRATORY THERAPIST please help

Answer 1

The 40 you are referring to is the percent of supplemental oxygen she is receiving. The 100 is the oxygen saturation of her blood. 100 is obviously very good. Most doctors want this number at 92 or above. Sounds like her oxygen could be titrated down a bit. However, that is only one of many parameters that should be met before someone can be taken off of the vent. Have they performed a NIF on her? This is done by having a patient breathe through a small mouthpiece, and when instructed, they take in the biggest, deepest breath they possibly can, as fast as they can, while a small hole in the mouthpiece is covered so that they cannot inhale any air(it's kind of hard to explain in writing). This measures their respiratory muscle strength. Sometimes when people are on a vent, their muscles get lazy and it makes it harder for them to be taken off. It is very hard to answer your question with so little information. If you knew the set volumes, and your mom's spontaneous volumes it may be helpful. You can IM me if you have any additional information.

Answer 2

Well, I am not a respiratory therapist, but I am an ICU nurse with much experience taking care of ventilator patients. Room air has 21% oxygen, so your mom is not on a high level of oxygen. But there are many factors at play with a person who requires mechanical ventilation. Such as: does she have chronic lung disease or why is she on the vent? There are other settings on the ventilator that would tell me a lot more than the o2 level. Such as the mode: SIMV, CMV, AC, CPAP, PEEP, PS. Those help us know how much support the patient is receiving. You can be on 100% oxygen and not need to be on a ventilator. The ventilator helps pull the oxygen in and push the carbon dioxide out and helps maintain and optimal acid-base balance. Too high a level of carbon dioxide in the blood will poison you and kill you. Thus, the person who needs to be on a vent, can't effectively do this gas exchange on their own, and the vent helps them accomplish this. The main way we determine if a person can be weaned from the ventilator, is through arterial blood gases. Blood is usually drawn from an artery in the wrist or the bend of the arm and is analyzed for pH, oxygen level, carbon dioxide level, and acid-base levels. All these tell us if we need to go up or down on the vent. It's a lot more complicated than just looking at oxygen levels. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

As I told you before, we can not get much information from the blood gas reading you are telling us. As she is recieving supplemental oxygen from the vent. the reading will always be 100%. The point is: Can she breath on her own? If she can, how much Pa O2 she can reach without the machine oxygen. When she breath on her own and can get more than 60% Pa O2, she will be weaned off the vent. When this will happen, no one knows. Pray for her.

Answer 4

the decsion to wean her of ventilator is decded by the doctor himself & it involves many factors including the patients ability to breath on her own.
if the pulse oximeter read 40 & the pther read 100, then the 40 must be a wrong reading due to inproper attachment of the pulse oximeter & the finger nail.
i wish your mother quick recovery