All this ranting about ventilators... [View all]
Maybe we will get 20,000 to 40,000 more ventilators...great....but...lets look at what is needed to operate the ventilator...
A skilled medical professional/ Nurse, Respiratory therapist....this is a small group of individuals who know how to set-up/monitor a ventilator...it is not like plugging in a toaster...It requires ongoing, 1:1 management...maybe 1 Nurse could handle 3 patients...maybe...it's complicated...
The ventilator is attached to a breathing tube that enters the patients lungs/ intubation or a trach ...this requires suctioning with sterile tubing/ suction catheters...patient also will require oral suctioning...the ventilator requires oxygen set at prescribed delivery rate, and pressure of lung inflation...the ventilator tubing, suction catheters, well we will need millions of them...if we don't even have masks, how do we know if we have the ventilator support supplies required for this magnitude of patients?
Another concern....critical management of a ventilator client is needed, cardiac monitors, LABS such as blood gasses wherein the blood is drawn from an artery, a deep sterile stick...ventilator effectiveness and blood Ph is the key data with blood gasses...a must for living stuff. This requires FAST lab results and a lab staff/ equipment to obtain the blood gasses and by the way...drawing a blood gas is typically a very skilled challenge.... radial/brachial or femoral sites...yea it's a little deep. 'OUCH".
So, we don't hear anything about this complex support level for life...staff and equipment... This can go on...realize the patient will have other clinical compromising conditions to balance...hypertension, cardiac, renal, diabetes and "new infections/bacterial...it goes on....
**** Realize...the Nurse/ Therapist are "on-hands" face to face with an active COVID-19 patient...effective PPE is essential....any break in protection barrier opens up an opportunity for the Nurse/Therapist to become infected...effective PPE not home made stuff...the home made gear for 1:1 ventilator patient is not protective...only a cosmetic image...
Just adding a little more visual to the big picture....
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