Most of the posts I have read are very informative, but primarily hospital related. Is anyone in home care(DME)? What vents are you using? Are you involved with applying them to a patients wheelchair, or other mobility aids?

I hope people aren't tired of me saying it, but I think a wonderful resource regarding vent users' opinions and information is Jim Lubin's Vent User's mailing list. It is a wonderfully-supportive community which discusses all things home vents. Here is the URL:

http://www.makoa.org/vent/index.html

Check out the archives -- lots of good information!

-jonathan

Excellent suggestion Jon.

bmitch, the group of those who are privileged to care for vent patients in the home is a relatively small slice of the ventilator care community, but no less important than any other. I hope we can see more from this group and discussions of their unique challenges and how they creatively meet them. It has been some time since I worked with applying vents to patient's wheelchairs. I worked in a long term vent unit and the vents we had were all fairly bulky, but would fit on the vent tray on the back of the chair fine. Many of the newer vents designed for home use are smaller and lighter and can be used to allow the patient more options for mobility.

Something I wonder about when I have gotten to care for some patients who are on long term ventilation...is there a time limit that should be offered to the patient related to cuff deflation and or speaking valve use. I have found that patients can tolerate pretty long periods of deflation with minimal problems, but that speaking valve use for much longer than an hour at a time can really thicken up secretions if passive humidification is in use. I guess with the deflated duff some of the exhaled gas is going back through the humidifier, where with the valve none is. I have encountered patients, however who use the valve all day, and seem to have no problem even though they have an HME.

Thank you for starting this discussion. What are some of the specific challenges you are facing that this community might help with?

Gary