Basic Modes of Ventilation

This continuing education program is accredited and can be taken for either CE accreditation or general learning.  If taken for credit, this course provides one contact hour for nurses (California Board of Nursing), RTs (American Association of Respiratory Care), EMS professionals (CAPCE), and CRNAs (American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, B Credit).

Learning objectives

The ventilator strategy, including the choice of modes, is dependent on the clinician’s experiences and availability of ventilator technologies in addition to multiple patient factors.  Therefore, the goal of this presentation is to introduce the concepts without being prescriptive to the strategy. After completing this course, the student will:

• Better understand the goals of mechanical ventilation.
• Differentiate spontaneous and mechanical breaths.
• Define inspiratory trigger and cycle.
• Define primary variables and breath sequencing.
• Identify five basic modes of mechanical ventilation.
• Explain the basics of ventilator targeting schemes.