How many of us have attempted to pipe a nebulizer treatment through a BVM? I know the few times I have used them are when I have had a very sick pediatric patient that a CPAP mask doesn’t fit on or an asthma/COPD related arrest. Your stress level is through the roof, and one more fine motor task just adds to it. It feels like you need twenty hands to get all of the pieces to fit properly, and then you always end up missing at least one connecting piece. This is one of those rarely used contraptions that is easy to forget, but when you need it, you typically need it fairly quickly. Here is a quick and pretty easy way to set up a nebulizer through a BVM.
WHAT YOU NEED
- BVM
- Ventilator Elbow
- “T” Piece
- Reservoir tubing
- Oxygen tubing
- Medication Chamber
STEP ONE
Connect the “T” piece into the BVM.
STEP TWO
Connect the reservoir tubing onto the end of the “T” piece.
STEP THREE
Connect the medication chamber to the bottom of the “T” piece.
STEP FOUR
Hook up the oxygen tubing to the end of the medication chamber.
STEP FIVE
Connect your ventilator elbow to the end of your reservoir tubing.
STEP SIX
Make sure that your ventilator elbow gets capped, as to create a closed circuit.
STEP SEVEN
Hook up your mask to the ventilator elbow.
STEP EIGHT
Consider placing a PEEP valve for patients that you believe may need extra pressure support.
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
When you’re completed with the assembly, your end product should look something like this. Every service carries their own distinct products, so you may have to tinker around with everything to get the perfect fit, but the majority of this stuff is pretty standard commission. We hope that this was a good review, or an idea starter for those of you that have never used anything like this before!
The nebulizer should be rotated so it is perpendicular to the floor. It will not function properly if it is parallel to the floor.
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Very true, John. For the purpose of the pic against the seat and not enough hands to demonstrate it, it was set up like that, but you are absolutely correct.
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Did your BVM comes with that ventilator elbow or is that something you obtained from other sources? Ours does not seem to have it.
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It did not come with that and would have to be acquired separately.
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