Introduction

Welcome to the Royal North Shore Hospital “Basics of mechanical ventilation” teaching module.
Through this module you will learn the fundamental principles of mechanical ventilation: the basic mechanics of a ventilator, how to start, adjust and troubleshoot a ventilator and how to integrate the ventilator function into assessment and care of a critically ill patient.
There are formative questions throughout the module to emphasise the key take-home messages, as well as a quiz at the end of the module.
Good luck and enjoy the learning!

Objectives

The objectives of this module are built around the Ventilation Work-Based Competency Assessment of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand.
At the end of this module you will be able to:

• Describe the basic ventilator components
• Understand basic respiratory physiology and apply that knowledge to adjusting ventilation
• Configure the ventilator settings to choose an appropriate ventilation mode for your patient
• Set appropriate alarms and troubleshoot common problems

Clinical Case

A 51 year old man presents to ED in respiratory distress. His oxygen saturations are 72% on a non-rebreather mask and he is clearly tiring.  The ED consultant is setting up for intubation and has asked for your help in this patient’s post-intubation care.  The patient is a lifelong smoker with a background of hypertension.