3.0 Chapter Overview
In this chapter we will discuss specific features of volume and pressure control modes, and how to approach choosing initial settings for a patient when we first initiate mechanical ventilation.
In this chapter we will cover:
- Commonly used initial settings in control modes
- How to calculate Ideal Body Weight and implications of it in volume control and pressure control
- How to calculate safe ranges for tidal volumes and flow
- Suggested settings for ventilator alarms
Application
In most cases, arterial blood gas (ABG) results guide clinicians in making informed decisions about ventilator settings. But we need to start somewhere! Clinicians often choose initial settings by employing educated guesses regarding their patient’s ventilatory needs based on how they presented prior to intubation. This chapter will help you to make these educated guesses effectively, and use this information to choose appropriate ventilator settings. Even if you have ABGs to begin with, the information in this chapter is still essential to understanding how the patient’s presenting status impacts your decisions about ventilator settings.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Identify which initial settings are mandatory in volume control and pressure control.
- Describe how patient status impacts decisions about ventilator settings.
- Explain why Ideal Body Weight and the safe range for tidal volumes became standard practice for ventilation decision-making.
- Calculate Ideal Body Weight for a patient.
- Calculate the safe range for tidal volumes for a patient.
- Choose recommended ventilator settings based on your mode and patient status.
- Set ventilator alarms effectively to ensure safe monitoring of the patient when not at bedside.
Key Terms
In this chapter, you will learn about all of the following key terms. These terms will be used throughout this book, so it is important to take the time to master them and practice your recall often.
- recruiting
- titrate
- atelectasis
- tachypnea
- Arterial Blood Gas (ABG)
- Ideal Body Weight (IBW)
- Ventilator Induced Lung Injury (VILI)
- Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
- barotrauma
- volutrauma
- decelerating flow pattern
- pressure control
- volume control
Whenever these terms are first introduced in this chapter, they are bolded. However, if you need additional information about a term than what is provided here, you can research it in The Free Dictionary: Medical Dictionary.
“Chapter 5 | Control Modes: Initial Ventilator Settings“ from Basic Principles of Mechanical Ventilation by Melody Bishop, © Sault College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
