Anesthesia Machine Flashcards
What does “patient ready” imply?
- APL valve is open
- In bag mode
- flowmeters and vaporizers are OFF
- mask is on Y piece
- suction is on
- make sure monitors are ready
What are the primary purposes and associated risks of the anesthesia machine?
- provide oxygen (may deliver a hypoxic mix)
- blend anesthetic gas mixture (may deliver incorrect anesthetic dose)
- allow ventilation of patient lungs (may give inappropriate ventilation)
Describe the oxygen analyzer?
- Essential part of the machine check
- analyzes the percentage of oxygen delivery
- make sure it is calibrated to room air
- do this part of the test BEFORE the positive leak test since you will have to break the closed system
What are some circumstances that defeat anti-hypoxic safeguards?
- wrong gas in oxygen pipeline or cylinders
- defective pneumatics or mechanics
- leaks downstream of flow control valves
- inert third gas administration
What are the five functions/paths of oxygen?
- go to the flowmeter
- go to the O2 flush
- activate the oxygen pressure failure safety mechanism (fail-safe)
- activate oxygen low-pressure alarm
- power mechanical ventilator bellows
How does scavenging work with the different types of ventilation?
- manual: gas enters scavenging system when peak pressure exceeds the opening pressure of the APL valve
- mechanical: gas enters during late exhalation and the expiratory pause after the vent bellows have returned to full position
- spontaneous: gas enters during late exhalation and the expiratory pause after the reservoir bag is full
What are the safety mechanisms of the scavenging system?
- different size hoses (19mm or 30mm) as opposed to 22mm breathing hose
- positive pressure relief mechanism if the vacuum is not high enough
- negative pressure relief if vacuum too strong will not affect gases to be delivered to patient
What is the positive pressure relief valve?
valve that opens when there is too much pressure, allowing waste gases to vent into the room and help prevent positive pressure in the patient circuit
What is the negative pressure relief valve?
valve that opens when there is too much suction, allowing room air into the flow of waste gas to the vacuum suction in order to prevent a negative pressure in the patient circuit
Describe the scavenging system?
- collects and disposes of excess gases for environmental safety
- may be active or passive
active: vacuum from hospital disposal system withdraws gas from scavenging system (uses negative pressure)
passive: slight positive pressure of excess gases in machine moves it into evacuation hose and into a disposal system
What are the different parts of the scavenging system?
- collection hoses: come from the APL valve and ventilator pressure valve
- intake ports: where the hoses connect to the system (open ports should be capped!)
- reservoir: allows waste gases which enter the system in uneven delivery to be handled in a constant, continuous manner
- manifold: interfaces between the machine and the disposal system
- vacuum control: used in the active system; adjusts the amount of vacuum from hospital disposal influencing scavenging system
- exhaust port and evacuation hose: used in passive system; connects to the environment
Describe the correct use of vacuum suction in the scavenging system.
- needle valve should be adjusted so flow out of manifold keeps the reservoir bag expanding and collapsing slightly and less than half full
- positive pressure relief valve opens with too much pressure
- negative pressure relief valve opens with too much suction
Describe the breathing system.
-where fresh gas mixture passes from machine to patient includes: -fresh gas hose/inlet -inspiratory/expiratory unidirectional valves -breathing hoses -Y piece -APL or "pop off" valve -CO2 absorber housing -CO2 absorber canister - breathing system pressure gauge -reservoir bag -bag/vent switch -mechanical vent
what is the function of the fresh gas hose or fresh gas inlet in the breathing system.
delivers from the CGO to the breathing system
Describe the adjustable pressure limiting (APL) valve of the breathing system.
- during ventilation, APL valve is closed to amount of pressure needed to deliver a breath and anything over that pressure goes to the scavenging system
- if APL is set on “0” or “minimal”, anything above that goes to scavenging
- totally open APL valve is used to check the scavenging system
- totally closed APL valve is used to check the breathing system
Describe the reservoir (ambu) bag of the breathing system.
- when full, pressure from the O2 flush starts transferring to the breathing system, creating risk for barotrauma
- does provide some flexibility to help minimize barotrauma
- different sizes are used for different ages
Describe the bag/vent switch of the breathing system.
- switches between mechanical ventilation and ambu bag
- in vent mode, APL valve and reservoir bag do not function
- vent system has its own pressure valve
What are the parts of the mechanical vent?
- vent drive gas tube
- vent hose
- vent bellows
- vent pressure relief valve (spill valve)
Describe the breathing system’s positive leak test.
- APL valve totally closed
- flowmeters all off
- Y piece occluded
- in bag mode
- Hit the O2 flush and drive gauge pressure >30 cmH2O
- If the pressure stays up at least 10 seconds, there is no leak
- to release pressure, OPEN the APL valve!
- ALWAYS perform test after any breaks in the system and before each case
What are the safety features of the breathing system?
- antidisconnect fresh gas hose connector
- antidisconnect pressure sampling line connection
- ventilator low airway pressure alarm (“apnea alarm”)
- ventilator pressure limiting adjustment knob (prevents barotrauma)
- ventilator pressure relief valve (any set pressure increase spills out)
Describe the low pressure system.
-blending of gases and volatile agent based on control settings includes: -flowmeters -vaporizers -common gas outlet (CGO)
What are the flow control valves?
- control gas flow through the flowmeter
- used for carrier gas
- calibrated to the density and viscosity of specific gases
include: needle valve, flow tubes, and indicator float
What is the function of the needle valve of the flow control valve?
control gas flow
Describe the flow tubes of the flow control valves.
- Thorpe tube
- tapered
- calibrated to specific gas
- coated with a conductive substance to minimize static electricity
- may have two tubes, first tube being smaller and more precise for doses less than 1 L/min