why is going from a ventilator to tracheotomy better is the ventilator still has to be used on the trach?
In: 0
Ventilators and Tracheostomies are in a sense different procedures and require different patients, here’s the main thing to get.
Ventilators replace the function of your diaphragm and chest muscles pulling air in and out. So when someone is unable to breathe on their own, a ventilator solves the issue.
A tracheostomy is a surgical hole in the neck slightly below the adam’s Apple. It’s used when something is wrong with the area above the hole that would basically prevent breathing. This could be a blockage, birth defects, or a crushed airway.
Tracheostomies can actually be hooked up to ventilators because again ventilators replace breathing, tracheostomies only bypass the upper airway (mainly the mouth and nose)
Here’s the benefit though, assuming you regain your ability to breathe you can basically function normally and independently with a tracheostomy, so if someone is getting one after being removed from a ventilator, it may not be that the tracheostomy is better, but that now they’ll be able to breathe on their own by bypassing that upper airway, letting them live again Basically
Latest Answers