BVM for difficulty breathing

[benasack2000]

Who says I'm going to be doing it alone? 1 Rescuer CPR with BVM is not easy for anybody.

[island emt]

please don't feed the short little being that lives under the bridge :-}

[DwayneEMTP]

As explained before, having to assist vents is a pretty rare situation in my experience. Where you will find it on a relatively reliable basis is with geriatrics that are exhausted from a prolonged effort to breath.

But also as mentioned having a BVM without O2 in the vast, vast majority of cases will be of little value. Good question though...

As asked before, why are you not taking your EMT yet? Age? You seem like a really good fit...

[J306]

As mentioned before, without a proper seal, 02 connection, and an OPA or NPA, the rate you ventilate at should be of little concern. Until you get formal training as a first responder, EMR or EMT, you should be activating EMS, like any other lay person, instead of trying to perform procedures without the proper training to back it up.

[Happiness]

The only time I have assisted vents in pt that is awake is someone with CHF. I sat behind the pt, asked them to squeeze my arm when they were going to take a breath, then gently squeezed the bag. This took a few minutes of both of us co-ordinating the breaths but in the end it worked well.

[ClutzyEMT]

Happiness,

That sounds like the old CPAP machines....us

[MariB]

Assisting a conscious person is rare, and unnatural to them.

However, if their respirations are too slow, you would add one to try to bring them up to get them to the point of adequate. Checking pulse ox, skin color, mental status etc.

If they are breathing too fast, you would try to time your ventilation with theirs, providing one every 5 to 6 second MATCHING one of theirs, this is hard to do.

Anyone with inadequate respirations needs help from EMS fast.

As mentioned before, without a proper seal, 02 connection, and an OPA or NPA, the rate you ventilate at should be of little concern. Until you get formal training as a first responder, EMR or EMT, you should be activating EMS, like any other lay person, instead of trying to perform procedures without the proper training to back it up.

If you try to insert an opa or an npa in a conscious person, I think you are asking for a lot of vomit and a fight on your hands. Lol

[scubanurse]

The alternative that I don't really see mentioned, although I could be wrong, is to get a good seal, run 100% O2 with a reservoir and just provide O2 that way...no actual positive pressure. This is often done prior to intubation in the OR and is a good way to give O2 at a higher concentration than with a NRB. This is also tolerated a little better than ventilations usually and requires less sedation.

[MariB]

He doesn't have the equipment to do that.

[island emt]

Or the training