Episode 11: Norman Regional Hospital | Using Vapotherm for NIPPV Intolerant Patients in the Emergency Department

BreatheTV Episode 11




Aaron Boyd, MD, MBA: Most, or many patients with respiratory distress have difficulty with the full face mask. They become claustrophobic, and it actually makes the respiratory failure worse.

Shirley Gresham, RRT, RCP: And getting them to suffer through that is very time intensive, very uncomfortable for the patient, and upsetting sometimes to family members.

Malori Maynard, RN, BSN: As a nurse, patient comfort is the second most important thing right after patient safety. Breathing wise, having the patient be comfortable is gonna make them feel more relaxed, it’s gonna make them breathe more efficiently.

Shirley Gresham: We initially decided to start using the Vapotherm in our emergency department because we were educated on the fact that not all patients who are having a COPD exacerbation necessarily need non-invasive ventilation. That we could use the Vapotherm instead to rescue those patients, much more comfortable, less invasively.

We like to put patients in the lowest acuity possible that they need. A, we want to keep our ICU beds open for patients who absolutely need an ICU bed, and then also, for the patient if they’re in a lower acuity they can have their family members there more, they’re more comfortable.

Aaron Boyd: Treatment we want to just continue regardless of where the patient is.

Malori Maynard: For imaging, or a procedure, or for switching rooms

Aaron Boyd: There’s enormous amount of comfort among the staff using Vapotherm, the only missing step had been that transition part.

Shirley Gresham: That’s very uncomfortable for the patients to have to all of a sudden switch for 15 minutes for a transfer onto non-invasive ventilation and the mask, also extremely expensive and time intensive.

We use the transfer unit on all the patients in the emergency room with the assumption that they’re either gonna need to be transported for testing, or they’re gonna need to be transported to be admitted and keep them on the same therapy.

Aaron Boyd: Having Vapotherm portable is seamless, and very easy for the patient and the staff.

Shirley Gresham: Anytime you can make your patients comfortable and their families more comfortable, that’s always win.

2020-03-26T15:20:02-04:00Jan 19|BreatheTV|