DISQUS

Surviving Respiratory Therapy School: Tales of a Trauma Junkie: One for the record books...

  • Holly · 11 months ago
    Wow!
  • myrtlife · 10 months ago
    The craziest part, to me, is that he was on 10 of PEEP
  • marcus · 11 months ago
    wow, that is impressive. I had one the other day with a ph of about 6.8 but that was during a code
  • BeachRT · 11 months ago
    I work at a long term rehab facility and have a patient who was talking out of his head... upon assessing further, ABG was pH 7.10, PaCO2 121. He was responsive (although not well). Patient was already trach'd and was on CPAP... switched him to A/C with a rate of 18. Shockingly he turned out just fine :)
  • Strong One · 11 months ago
    Heh heh.. good one.
    It's amazing what you'll see.
  • anniec898 · 11 months ago
    Wild!
  • keepbreathing · 11 months ago
    I've seen patients like that. Worked at a place once with a chronic patient who would scream for BiPAP with a PaCO2 in the 120's. I can still hear him: "Can't breathe! BiPAP!"
  • Sarah · 11 months ago
    We've got a couple of frequent fliers who have co2's like that. It always amazes me.
  • Helpfulguy · 10 months ago
    Just worked on a patient 2 weeks ago who had a PCO2 of 170...I thought I messed up the ABG but couldn't figure out how...so when I ran it again it came back 170. The patient was very sleepy (no kidding eh?). We were on BiPAP and eventually had to intubate, amazingly the patient is at home now on Home O2.
  • myrtlife · 10 months ago
    170? Wow! That's CRAZY. I didn't know it was possible to sustain life with a PaCO2 that high. Totally cool that he is at home on O2 now... that is exactly why I want to become a respiratory therapist.

    I'm really not certain the outcome of this patient. Last thing I remember before I left that morning was he was refusing intubation until his son made the decision for him. I know he (obviously) went back on BiPAP while in the unit, but am unsure of what happened after that.
  • Karin RN · 10 months ago
    Just this morning, a patient (not mine) has a PCO2 of 85. She's responsive to sternal rub only.
    Amazing how some people differ.
  • myrtlife · 10 months ago
    That's true. Well, this guy was/is currently a long time smoker, so his CO2 was probably normally around 60, maybe even higher.