ventilator/CPAP

A ventilator is that thing that mechanically breathes for you when you are unconscious or for whatever reason you can't breathe effectively on your own. It facilitates the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, hence it ventilates the patient. It has adjustments for how much pressure is used at peak inhalation and at peak exhalation, how much oxygen is used, etc. Inhaled medications can be administered thru the machine, such as anesthetic gases. A tube is placed into the upper trachea through the mouth or nose. Most of the time patients need to be sedated if conscious, otherwise they may feel like they are fighting against the machine when trying to breathe.

CPAP is a much smaller and less sophisticated machine that applies pressure after the patient inhales to keep the back of the throat from folding in via a mask that fits over the nose or mouth and nose. A bi-pap machine is a cpap that can initiate the breath. Neither of these machines exchange gases, but oxygen can be supplied when using using the mask.

I have to admit the difference seemed clear in my head until I tried to explain them! It is somewhat confusing. The pictures on the news of ventilators that some companies are designing look much smaller that what is used in the hospital--they are big heavy machines as big as a chest of drawers, weigh hundreds of pounds and cost tens of thousands of dollars. And must be hooked up to gas lines. The logistics of these field hospitals as far as supplying electricity, oxygen, plumbing, etc is mind boggling. My goal is to avoid ending up in one!