UNDERSTANDING Respiratory Failure!

Intro - 0:00
Hypoxic Respiratory Failure Part 1 - 03:43
Hypoxic Respiratory Failure Part 2 - 10:08
Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure - 13:07
Practice Cases - 16:14

Your job as a clinician after identifying respiratory failure is 2 things.

1. Intervene to manage the respiratory failure
2. Address the underlying cause of the respiratory failure

Hypoxic respiratory failure: Found on routine oxygen saturation test. Once identified, and persistent, you provide initial oxygen supplementation while you do your thorough assessment, assess and stabilize airway, breathing and circulation.

Common differentials you must run through include:

Pneumonia
Pulmonary edema/Heart Failure
Pulmonary embolism
ARDS
Pleural Effusion
Pneumothorax
atelectatasis

Most of the diagnosis mentioned will be identifiable on a chest xray except for the pulmonary embolism for which a CT angiography has to be done.

Hypercapnic respiratory failure

In hypercapnic repsiratory failure, the expectation is that you made diagnosis via the arterial blood gas results. Once agreed, the goal is to get the CO2 out. and while like in hypoxic respiratory failure you’re addressing the underlying issue, you intervene to manage the respiratory failure.

Common causes of Hypercapnia to be aware of:

COPD exacerbation
Obesity hypoventilation syndrome
Opioid overdose
Pulmonary edema may also cause this

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