Anybody know of a good website/book reference about ventilators?

[cardsurgguy]

I'm trying to get a good source for ventilator stuff

I want to find a good website and/or book for a reference

For example, things like the different vent modes (all 87 of them (from what it seems))

At this point, I just know that some vent modes breath fully for the patient (like PC), and some breath fully for a certain number of breaths but let the patient breath above that (like SIMV I think), and some modes allow the patient to breath him/herself (such as PSV, again, I think)

Also, I'd like to know more about various aspects of the vent that are adjusted to change ventilation such as PEEP, PAP, and PIP

I work on an ICU and want to know more detail about all of this stuff, anybody know of a good reference?

If possible, I'm looking for something that you don't have to be a pulmonary attending to understand considering the fact that I'm going to be starting medical school this fall...

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[DropkickMurphy]

Don't worry about it yet. You'll have plenty on your plate come this fall, so don't worry about learning this stuff now. You'll learn it when you need to. Enjoy your last free summer for a LONG time.

If you insist on wasting your summer, I recommend Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Care. It's a general overview of respiratory care but you will come away pretty knowledgable. If you have money to blow (on the order of almost $180 if I remember correctly) check out Principles and Practice of Mechanical Ventilation by Martin Tobin or for a slightly less expensive read I would recommend Essentials of Mechanical Ventilation by Dean Hess. Tobin's book is a tome- it's over a thousand pages and contains more than you could EVER possibly need to know about mechanical ventilation but then again you will certainly learn a lot from it. It also functions remarkably well as a doorstop due to its size

If you do work on an ICU, catch one of the RT's and ask them to show you the basics and ask them what you need to know. That is honestly probably your best course of action, since mechanical ventilation is more or less an art form that is rather tedious to read about but becomes much more practically understandable if you can see it in action. Not to mention, as an RT nothing is quite so fun as getting to teach my job to someone who is eager to learn. If you have any other questions or need anything else, PM me.

 

[viostorm]

I like "Respiratory Phys: The Essentials" by West.

This isn't a specific book on vents, but it will definitely help you out during your MSI year and respiratory phys also has a lot of stuff applicable for critical care environment. Your medical school will probably use it for Resp Phys.

It is a quick read, maybe 100 pages and will give you the science behind ventilation/perfusion. Once you understand the physiology, the vent modes/pressures are easy to understand.

One of the best books I have read in medical school.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/06...f=pd_bbs_3/103-2759221-0411033?_encoding=UTF8

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[cardsurgguy]

Haven't been on for a while. Thanks for your replies. Good info.

Don't worry about it yet. You'll have plenty on your plate come this fall, so don't worry about learning this stuff now. You'll learn it when you need to. Enjoy your last free summer for a LONG time.

If you insist on wasting your summer,

This IS enjoying my summer. I'm an addict for clinical information. This is a fun thing for me to do.

It's amazing the residents and nurses on my floor actually get any work done with me around asking them anything that comes to my mind.

And besides, I'd be doing it primarily at work anyways, since I work night shift and there's a bunch of down time.

If you do work on an ICU, catch one of the RT's and ask them to show you the basics and ask them what you need to know

Yeah, I do this with everybody (RT's, nurses, residents, etc), but they are busy (as am I, but not nearly as them).

That's how I knew the stuff in my first post, such as PSV = patient breathing themselves, SIMV = patient gets a certain amount of breaths per minute automatically from the vent, then they can breathe above that if they want to (I think this is SIMV if I remember). PC = vent controls pressure and controls all breathing done by patient (again, I think, if I remember correctly)

But I'm looking for slightly more detail than this...





You guys mentioned books, which I'm going to hit up the library and take a look at.

But do you know of any good clinical websites at all for vent management? I saw a med student reading a good website about ICU stuff in general, but that was months ago and I can't remember what the website was.

A website is easier, especially at work, to use for reference than a book.

 

[Pastrami King]

Check out the respiratory failure section of http://www.ccmtutorials.com/ from the SICU at UPenn.

 

[Eidolon6]

Principles and Practice of Mechanical Ventilation....by M. Tobin....the modern day Godfather of vents and vent weaning.