Ideas for teaching capnography

tchristifulli

tchristifulli

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I am doing a training in August on Capnography. This training will be for all skill levels, so I want to make it fun and interactive. We have the zoll with cap and side stream attachment. Any ideas on interactive ways to teach this subject?
 
I like using it to coach patients to decrease their respiratory rate when hyperventilating. I show them how low their number is, explain what the number should be, and tell them that by slowing their breathing they can watch that number increase. A quick demonstration with you intentionally hyperventilating and decreasing your EtCO2 value followed by holding your breath long enough to retain some CO2 seems to grab attention and show that it does really work. I'd recommend sitting for this portion of the demo so you don't pass out in front of your audience.
 
Excellent idea, I like that. Thanks man!
 
chaz90 said:
I'd recommend sitting for this portion of the demo so you don't pass out in front of your audience.
Click to expand...

This is the key to this demonstration.

I tried this after you said something about it a while back with our mainstream ETCO2 attachment (gotta work with what you've got, right :wacko: ) and it worked really well. I'm sure someone will have something to say about "using equipment the wrong way" though.
 
Robb said:
This is the key to this demonstration.

I tried this after you said something about it a while back with our mainstream ETCO2 attachment (gotta work with what you've got, right :wacko: ) and it worked really well. I'm sure someone will have something to say about "using equipment the wrong way" though.
Click to expand...

Not at all! I showed an EMT student how it worked using the mainstream attachment just the other day. I only had one EtCO2 cannula in my gear and didn't want to use it up, but I had like 3 that attached to ET tubes. I think it almost works better as a demonstration since you can breathe exclusively through it more easily and get a better looking waveform. Now if I could only learn how to induce bronchospasm on myself...
 
Is there any way to distinguish between hyperventilation and a PE from reading capnography. They both present the same most the time. Any tips?
 
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