Ventilator Calculator

The Ventilator Calculator is designed to provide the practitioner with a fast and easy way to initial ventilator settings, and a quick way to correct settings to tailor the ventilator to the particular patient’s condition.

The Ventilator Calculator will provide initial ventilator settings based on the patient’s ideal body weight, and a normal metabolic rate. The ideal body weight can be calculated by using height in inches or centimeters. You may choose the normal 7.25 ml/Kg setting, or choose 10 ml/Kg, 8 ml/Kg. It will also provide you the option of the ARDS protocol settings of 6 ml/Kg or 4 ml/Kg. The Ventilator Calculator will also provide a suggested respiratory rate based on normal metabolic rate at sea level. However, as with any suggestion, the patient’s current clinical status must be considered when setting the initial respiratory rate. As an example, an individual patient in severe metabolic acidosis would need a greater respiratory rate then an individual being recovered from surgery. Therefore, clinical evaluation of the situation would suggest you increase the respiratory rate higher than that suggested by the Ventilator Calculator.

The correction section of the Ventilator Calculator will give suggestions of corrections based on the patient’s current condition. If, therefore, the patient’s condition is steadily worsening, then the Ventilator Calculator will help, but will not provide long-term answers to the worsening patient’s needs. However, it will correct for the patient’s needs at that moment, helping you stay up with the patient’s quickly changing needs. In such a case, serial blood gases will be required, and corrections taken until the patient’s condition stabilizes.

The Ventilator Calculator is an excellent tool, and can improve your ability to tailor the ventilator settings to a patient’s condition. However, your clinical evaluation of the patient’s condition and the Physician’s direction will always be required in excellent patient care.

Ventilator Calculator is designed by a Respiratory Therapist for Respiratory Therapists.