Mechanical Ventilation

I'm nearly certain most won't watch the following videos so I'll give you a few of my takeaways. (1) Most people think of ventilators as a life saving cure. It is not. It is a last resort when nothing else can be done for a covid-19 patient.

(2) The machine itself is not overly complicated. However fine tuning it to work properly by a highly skilled medical technician is of utmost importance. So many things can go wrong if not done properly. Hence why the need for a very well educated dedicated operator. It is not as simple as sticking and tube down a patient's throat and leaving them alone. When there are not enough medical workers to closely monitor each patient things can go terribly wrong.

(3) Too much volume of air flow or improperly synching the patients pattern with their breathing could be worse then if they weren't on a ventilator. Same goes if the lungs were given too much oxygen. According to the video some of the operators, whose patients have COPD, tend to over-feed oxygen because these patients have lower levels in the their blood then those with healthier lungs. Too much could prove to be a costly mistake.

(4) The longer someone is on a ventilator the trickier it gets to keep everything in check. New conditions can start to show up they didn't have before.There's tons more of information in these videos. I suggest even if your not all that interested you should watch them to understand just how skilled medical workers have to be. I came away with a lot more appreciation for their skills then I had before. I think you will too.