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JF-Expert Member
- Dec 11, 2011
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Respiratory complications rank as the major cause of death in burn patients. Potentially fatal respiratory complications include inhalation injuries, aspiration of fluids by unconscious patients, bacterial pneumonia, pulmonary edema, obstruction of pulmonary arteries, and postinjury respiratory failure. Direct-inhalation injuries, which can lead to other respiratory complications, are especially common. The three basic categories of direct-inhalation injuries are inhalation of dry heat and soot, carbon monoxide poisoning, and smoke inhalation.
Any patient likely to have suffered inhalation injuries should receive a bronchoscopic examination of the airway. This examination can reveal the degree of respiratory injury and help in planning the appropriate treatment. Constant one-on-one nursing care is often necessary to provide the required pulmonary treatment. In most instances, an endotracheal tube is passed into the lungs, and the patient is placed on a mechanical ventilator. By delivering air under constant pressure, the ventilator helps keep the lungs inflated; this aids in the control and prevention of atelectasis (collapse of the air sacs). The ventilator can also be used to reexpand collapsed lungs. In addition, the machine can deliver varying concentrations of oxygen and mists in the inspired air. Patients who have suffered smoke inhalation are given high concentrations of humidified oxygen. Those with carbon monoxide poisoning receive 100 percent oxygen until their blood level of carboxyhemoglobin falls below 20 percent.
SOURCE:https://www.britannica.com/science/burn/Hospital-treatment
Any patient likely to have suffered inhalation injuries should receive a bronchoscopic examination of the airway. This examination can reveal the degree of respiratory injury and help in planning the appropriate treatment. Constant one-on-one nursing care is often necessary to provide the required pulmonary treatment. In most instances, an endotracheal tube is passed into the lungs, and the patient is placed on a mechanical ventilator. By delivering air under constant pressure, the ventilator helps keep the lungs inflated; this aids in the control and prevention of atelectasis (collapse of the air sacs). The ventilator can also be used to reexpand collapsed lungs. In addition, the machine can deliver varying concentrations of oxygen and mists in the inspired air. Patients who have suffered smoke inhalation are given high concentrations of humidified oxygen. Those with carbon monoxide poisoning receive 100 percent oxygen until their blood level of carboxyhemoglobin falls below 20 percent.
SOURCE:https://www.britannica.com/science/burn/Hospital-treatment