Patent Airway Discussion: Emergency Medicine

Eventually this obstruction leads to the lack of blood and oxygen to the heart, which ultimately results in a heart attack (NHLBI.com, 2005).

By opening the victim?s airway, you are lifting the tongue from the back of the throat which could be the one thing obstructing the airway.

Both rapid, shallow breathing patterns and hypoventilation effect gas exchange. Arterial blood gases will be monitored and changes discussed with provider. Alteration in PaCO2 and PaO2 levels are signs of respiratory failure. Patient’s body position will be properly aligned for optimum respiratory excursion, this promotes lung expansion and improved air exchange. Patient will be suctioned as needed to clear secretions and maintain patent airways. The expected outcome is that the patient’s airway and gas exchange will be maintained as evidence by normal arterial blood gases (Herdman,

Jane’s asthma was acute severe. Initially to alleviate some of Jane’s breathlessness she was sat up right in the bed and supported with pillows to improve air entry. Due to her low oxygen saturations she was placed on 40% oxygen via Hudson mask (BTS 2006), as Jane was mouth breathing the mask was the appropriate device to use to ensure adequate oxygenation (Walsh 2002). According to Inwald et al (2001) hypoxemia is frequently a primary cause in numerous asthma related deaths. By administering oxygen promptly, for acute severe asthma, serious hypoxemia

70% of her right lung is collapsed and is not taking part in gas exchange

Data: Pulmonary function testing dated 2010 showed moderately severe obstruction with positive bronchodilators response. Normal lung volumes. Evidence of air trapping. Severely reduced diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide.

One of the most important things to maintain a trauma patients airway is ensuring that you have adequate help around (Stephens, 2011). This is important because there are many different tasks that must be delegated in maintaining this persons airway. Some of these processes include opening the airway, suctioning the airway, inserting the proper adjunct, and maintaining

The authors begin their initiation of the research article by stating their reason attention is needed to study the rate of accidental decannulation (AD). Due to the increment in the number of patients receiving protracted mechanical ventilation through artificial airway, much attention is needed to focus on how to reduce the morbidity and mortality rate of accidental decannulation. Not much recognition is given to the complications of AD compared to accidental extubation following translaryngeal intubation (White et al., 2012). According to the authors, the research was triggered by two sentinel events, hence a research for the identification of the causes of AD in LTACH and implementation of strategies to curb the situation.

The patient may have a hard time breathing because she is in pain after having surgery. Since they patient doesn’t want to breath due to the pain it can cause atelectasis and later sepsis if not treated in time. It would be important to teach the patient about splinting and to use an incentive spirometry in order to help her be able to breath. Another risk factor for the patient not being able to oxygenate would be hypovolemia since there is less blood volume which can also lead to less oxygen being able to travel in the blood or able to perfuse throughout the body.

1. Patient has an ineffective airway clearance r/t excessive mucus aeb crackles in the lower lobe.

Mr. Joseph is a 56-year-old has 30 smoking pack years. He was diagnosed 10 years ago with asthma/chronic bronchitis, arthritis of the knees, and congestive heart failure (CHF). Mr. Joseph weighs 350 pounds with a height of 6 feet, making his body mass index (BMI) of 47.5, much more than the recommended 25, and in fact his BMI places him in the morbid obesity classification. He takes medicines for his pulmonary conditions, along with a diuretic.

I stayed close to the patient during this whole period, but I was not paying enough attention to her low oxygen level. The patient was a healthcare aid and she kept telling me that, “It’s ok, I am always a shallow breather”. However, I should have my own judgement ability and provide more competent care with timely evaluation of the effectiveness of the interventions.

Foreign body aspiration is a common life threatening event. Foreign bodies in the tracheobronchial tree account for significant morbidity and mortality in children below the age of three years.

In order to make sure that the victims airway is open,place your hand on the victims forehead and two fingers on their chin and tilt the head back slightly to open the airway.Look, listen, and feel for breathing. Get close enough to the victims face to listen if victim can breath by putting you ear close to the victims mouth. At the same time ,look if victims chest is rising up.Do that for ten seconds.If you do not feel the victims breath, or cannot see the chest rising after ten seconds, continue to the next step.

This means that air does not pass through the vocal cords and so speech is not possible. Sometimes patients can have a tracheostomy tube that allows some air to go through the vocal chords and out of the mouth. Patients can have this type of tube if they are able to swallow without difficulty and if they do not need a tracheostomy tube with an inflated cuff in order to get air into the lungs.