Synchrony

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

We will define the concept of asynchrony, also referred to as dyssynchrony, which is a common condition in mechanically ventilated patients where there is poor coordination between the ventilator and the patient. This occurs when there is a mismatch between the patient’s neural respiratory drive and the ventilator’s settings (machine drive) or response. In this course, we will:

• Define patient-ventilator asynchrony.
• List common causes of asynchrony and incidence.
• Describe the consequences of asynchrony.
• Identify the three main categories of asynchrony.
• Apply treatment strategies to synchronize patient-ventilator interaction.