This is how the ventilator initiates inspiration and breaths can be either machine or patient triggered
[az_accordion_section] [accordion title=”Machine triggered breaths ” id=”acc-1″]1. Independent of patient respiratory effort
2. Initiated at a set time interval according to the set respiratory rate [/accordion] [accordion title=”Patient triggered breaths ” id=”acc-2″]1. Initiated when the patients inspiratory effort causes a change in flow or pressure within the ventilator circuit
2. Trigger sensitivity determines how easy it is for patient to initiate (trigger) the breath
o The lower the trigger threshold setting the easier it is for a breath to be triggered and vice versa
o Setting the trigger threshold too low risks auto triggering where a breath is triggered without patient effort such as by hiccups or cardiac oscillations [/accordion] [/az_accordion_section]
[az_toggle_section] [toggle title=”What trigger would you choose for your patient?” id=”tgl-1″]Since your patient is paralyzed, you’ll have to go with a Time-trigger for now. Will depend on the RR you decide to chose. However, since your patient might eventually start breathing on his own when curarisation will wear off and sedation will be lightened, you also need to set a back-up flow or pressure trigger. The usual trigger is flow trigger of 2L/min [/toggle] [/az_toggle_section]
