EHC ED Critical Care
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ETCO2 makes procedural sedation and the care of intubated patients safer. This tutorial deals with setting up the equipment; to understand the technology, go to capnography.com |
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Here is an ETCO2 monitor; all the beds in the trauma room and the cardiac room have one. |
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First make sure the machine is on. |
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Make sure the condensation trap is in
place. These are found in the supply cabinet in the cardiac room (ask
the nurses.) They only need to be thrown away once a month, so leave
them in place after use. |
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Now press the airway gases button. |
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You should see a screen like this appear. Note the box that says "Airway ZERO". On this screen the letters are in black. You must wait until those letters turn white. If the machine has already been turned on for a while, this usually takes 60 seconds. If the machine was just turned on, this can take a few minutes. If it take longer than this, the machine needs trouble shooting. Make sure all of the connections are firmly plugged in behind the machine. If this does not work, you're hosed if you need ETCO2 on this bed. Call Weingart or BIOMED |
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![]() When
the letters turn white in the Airway ZERO box, you are ready to zero.
Make sure nothing is hooked up to the condensation trap and press the
button under the airway ZERO box. Try not to breathe on the condensation
trap at this point. |
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Now press the button under the Airway CO2 box |
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You will now see this screen. The white line that is the ETCO2 tracing will start off a little bit below the zero line and then move up a skate along the zero line consistently. This picture shows the ETCO2 line skating along the zero line. |
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Now, test the set-up. Blow into the condensation trap. You should see the ETCO2 tracing spike. |
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Now you need to hook it up to a patient. You'll need tubing and if the patient is intubated a sidestream valve. The are both found in the drawer in the cardiac room. |
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Hook up one end to the condensation trap and the other between the patient's ET tube and the vent tubing. |
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If this is for procedural sedation, you'll need: a nasal cannula, that same ETCO2 tubing, and a 16G angiocath. |
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Cut the nasal cannula off right below the point where the hose splits into two. This is to prevent people from administering O2 through it. |
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Make a tiny cut about 3 inches back from one of the prongs. |
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Insert the angio into the slit facing the nasal prong. |
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Withdraw the needle, leaving the catheter. |
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Throw a piece of tape around the hub |
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Here is the finished product. |
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Attach one side of the ETCO2 tubing |
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Place the cannula on your patient and attach it to the condensation trap. (Stoned look is to simulate ketamine sedation.) |