Ventilator Terms

Question 1

What are the 4 Ventilator Basics Terms?

Answer 1

1) Control Variables
2) Conditional Variables
3) Trigger
4) Cycle

Question 2

What is Control Variables?

Answer 2

It is basically target variables set on the ventilator to help assist breathing, and once set, it is fixed unless you change it

Question 3

What is Conditional Variables?

Answer 3

It is variables that can change accordingly to the nature of each breath to achieve the set control variables
(Example: patient breath less effort conditional variable air pressure in ventilator increase to achieve set tidal volume in volume mode)

Question 4

What is Trigger?

Answer 4

The factor that triggers inspiration

Question 5

What is Cycle?

Answer 5

The factor that determines the end of the inspiration and start of exhalation ( can be pressure , time or flow cycle )

Question 6

What are the 6 Physiological Terms for Ventilators?

Answer 6

1) Airway resistance
2) Lung compliance
3) Atelectasis
4) Derecruitment
5) Recruitment
6) Predicted body weight

Question 7

What is Airway Resistance?

Answer 7

It is the resistive force encountered during mechanical respiratory cycle ( Normal is < or equal to 5cm H20 )

Question 8

What is Lung Compliance?

Answer 8

Refers to the elasticity of the lungs or how easy it is to expand and accommodate change in volume/pressure

Question 9

What is Atelectasis?

Answer 9

It refers to the complete or partial collapse of the lungs / area of the lung

Question 10

What is Derecruitment?

Answer 10

It is the loss of gas exchange surface area in the lungs due to Atelectasis

Question 11

What is Recruitment?

Answer 11

It is the restoration of gas exchange surface area in the lungs by applying pressure to open up the area of collapse

Question 12

What is Predicted Body weight?

Answer 12

It is a setting on the ventilator that predicts patient body weight based on sex and height

Question 13

What are the 4 Phases of Mechanical Breathing?

Answer 13

1) Initiation Phase
2) Inspiratory Phase
3) Plateau Phase
4) Exhalation Phase

Question 14

What is The Initiation Phase?

Answer 14

It is the start of mechanical breathing ( can be trigger by patient or machine and have slight air sucking at the start )

Question 15

What is the Inspiratory Phase?

Answer 15

It is the phase where there is flow of air into the patient’s lung to achieve control variable

Question 16

What is Plateau Phase?

Answer 16

It is the phase where there is no air flow for approximately 0.5 seconds in between inspiration and exhalation

Question 17

What is Exhalation phase?

Answer 17

It is a passive process in mechanical breathing ( stop positive air flow and open outlet to atmospheric air pressure to induce exhalation )

Question 18

What are the 13 Ventilator Settings?

Answer 18

1) PIP ( Peak inspiratory pressure )
2) Pplat ( Pressure Plateau/ Plateau Pressure )
3) PEEP ( Positive End Expiratory Pressure)
4) IPEEP ( Intrinsic PEEP )
5) Driving Pressure
6) iTime ( Inspiratory time )
7) eTime ( Expiratory time )
8) I:E ratio
9) PIF ( Peak Inspiratory Flow )
10) TV ( Tidal Volume )
11) RR ( Respiratory Rate )
12) MV ( Minute Ventilation )
13) FiO2 ( Fraction of inspired oxygen )

Question 19

What is PIP? ( Peak Inspiratory Pressure )

Answer 19

It is the max pressure in the airways at the end of inspiratory phase
( ideal PIP is < 35 cm H2O or less than 35 cm H2O)

Question 20

What is Pplat? ( Plateau Pressure )

Answer 20

It is the pressure that remains in the lung alveoli during the cessation of air flow/ plateau phase
( ideal should be at < 30cm H2O or less than 30 cm H2O)

Question 21

What is PEEP ( Positive End expiratory Pressure )

Answer 21

It is the positive pressure that remains at the end of exhalation
(usually set at 5cm H2O to prevent atelectasis)

Question 22

What is IPEEP? (Intrinsic PEEP or auto PEEP)

Answer 22

It is the pressure that remains in the lung due to incomplete exhalation in patient with problem lungs

Question 23

What is Driving Pressure?

Answer 23

It is a term that describes pressure change in inspiration. It is the pressure that would be used to to expand the lungs ( calculated by Pplat - PEEP )

Question 24

What is iTime? (Inspiratory Time)

Answer 24

It is the time given to the machine to deliver the targeted control variable ( set TV or set Pressure )

Question 25

What is eTime? (Expiratory Time)

Answer 25

It is the time given to the machine to allow for full exhalation phase

Question 26

What is I:E ratio?

Answer 26

It is the Ratio of iTime and eTime, reducing the ratio will increase expiratory time and vice-versa

Question 27

What is PIF? ( Peak Inspiratory Flow )

Answer 27

It is how fast at which the breath is delivered to the patient and is expressed in L/min ( how fast the inspiratory phase is )

Question 28

What is TV ( Tidal Volume )

Answer 28

It is the volume of gas that is delivered to the patient with each Inspiration/Breath, it is usually expressed in mL

Question 29

What is RR? (Respiratory Rate)

Answer 29

It is the number of breaths delivered to the patient in a minute
This variable will affect the entire respiratory cycle time

Question 30

What is MV? ( Minute Ventilation )

Answer 30

It is the amount of ventilation the patient receive in 1 minute
Healthy adult is 4-6 L/min and unhealthy is 12-15L/min
( calculated by : TV x RR )

Question 31

What is FiO2? ( Fraction of inspire oxygen )

Answer 31

It is the measure of the amount of oxygen delivered to a patient during inspiration and expressed in percentage (%)
( room air 21% O2 ; ventilator can be up to 100% )

Question 32

What are the 7 Ventilator modes?

Answer 32

1) AC mode ( Assist Control )
2) SIMV mode ( Synchronized intermittent mandatory Ventilation )
3) PRVC mode ( Pressure regulated volume control )
4) Pressure support mode
5) NIPPV mode ( Non invasive positive pressure ventilation )
6) CPAP mode ( Continuous Positive airway Pressure )
7) BPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure)

Question 33

What is AC Mode? ( Assist Control )

Answer 33

This mode delivers the set targeted control variable to the patient regardless ( Basically Mandatory Mode )

Question 34

What is SIMV? ( Synchronized Intermittent Mandatory Ventilation)

Answer 34

In this mode, when the patient does not have spontaneous breath, the machine acts like AC and delivers set targeted control variable to patient and when patient have spontaneous breath, the machine only give CPAP to patient ( Basically when no breath mandatory mode, when got breath from patient spontaneous mode )

Question 35

What is PRVC? ( Pressure Regulated Volume Control )

Answer 35

This mode delivers set tidal volume by the clinician to the patient at the lowest pressure possible to prevent the lung from getting injured ( Is a Mandatory mode that will auto the pressure to lowest )

Question 36

What is Pressure support?

Answer 36

This mode basically will delivery the PEEP to the patient for support and extra pressure if needed. Machine will stop if no spontaneous breath from patient ( This is basically Spontaneous mode to help in preventing the collapse of the lungs )

Question 37

What is NIPPV? ( Non Invasive Positive Pressure Ventilation )

Answer 37

This mode consist of 2 mode and its the delivery of the ventilation through tight fitted face mask or nasal prongs. CPAP and BPAP is under this mode ( no endotracheal tube )

Question 38

what is CPAP? ( Continuous Positive Airway Pressure )

Answer 38

This mode basically delivery constant airway pressure to the patient throughout respiratory cycle and PIF, RR and TV. It depends on patient breath, meaning patient must/can breath a bit to use this mode

Question 39

What is BPAP? ( Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure )

Answer 39

This mode delivery has 2 levels of airway pressure, one high during inspiration, and 1 low during expiration. It is to prevent alveolar from getting damage