Management of COVID-19 patients in Ventilatory failure
Most patients with COVID-19 who present to hospital will develop oxygenation failure, but for some patients who have certain underlying health conditions, they may be more at risk of developing ventilatory failure (i.e. pH < 7.35 and pCO2 >6.5kPa). Management of ventilatory failure is quite different to management of oxygenation failure, so it’s important that these patients are correctly identified.
Conditions that predispose a patient to ventilatory failure include:
The All-Wales guidance for managing ventilatory failure should be applied to patients with COVID-19 who are in ventilatory failure, and this guideline (found below) will support teams to optimise non-invasive ventilation and correct the ventilatory failure.
The target oxygen saturations range for patients in ventilatory failure is 88-92%.
Most patients with COVID-19 who present to hospital will develop oxygenation failure, but for some patients who have certain underlying health conditions, they may be more at risk of developing ventilatory failure (i.e. pH < 7.35 and pCO2 >6.5kPa). Management of ventilatory failure is quite different to management of oxygenation failure, so it’s important that these patients are correctly identified.
Conditions that predispose a patient to ventilatory failure include:
The All-Wales guidance for managing ventilatory failure should be applied to patients with COVID-19 who are in ventilatory failure, and this guideline (found below) will support teams to optimise non-invasive ventilation and correct the ventilatory failure.
The target oxygen saturations range for patients in ventilatory failure is 88-92%.
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