A ventilator is a machine designed to work as a patient’s second set of lungs during an important time in their life, such as during a surgery or after a serious injury to the lung or diaphragm. Regardless of the reason you find yourself or a loved one placed on such as machine, the results will be that the person is kept healthy and on a positive recovery trend while they recover from whatever surgery or injury caused such an issue. That said, there are more reasons to be placed on a ventilator than you may predict, and learning what you can today will help you save both time and money tomorrow.
During Surgery
A ventilator is used during surgery if the patient must be placed under general anesthesia during the procedure as a precaution to keep the patient breathing and their lungs clear at all times. The medication used to place a person under general anesthesia will disrupt the body’s ability to breathe normally, thus making it imperative that this machine be used so that the surgery may be started and completed with minimal risks on all levels. The machine is typically left on and inserted into your body until such a time as the surgery is completed and you are taken off the anesthesia and allowed to breathe on your own.
Impaired Lung Function
Pneumonia is an infection not unlikely to very suddenly cause severe symptoms, especially if the infection is allowed to fester inside the lungs of the patient suffering from it. Such an infection will dramatically impair the functionality of your lungs on their own and make it impossible to adequately take in oxygen from the air around you. For this reason, you will need a ventilator so you can continue to receive the oxygen craved by your body and have a real chance of recovery while the antibiotics do their job. To learn more, contact Mitchell Home Medical at (800) 420-0202 or visit mitchellhomemedical.com at your own convenience. You can also connect them on Facebook for more updates.
