Hi friends, in this video we are going to be defining some basic respiratory vocabulary and breaking them down into simple terms. Specifically, we’re going to define the PEEP (positive-end expiratory pressure), PIP (peak inspiratory pressure), Vt (tidal volume), FiO2 (fraction of inspired oxygen), and RR (respiratory rate). I’ve found that using a balloon is really helpful way to visualize this, and I have also included a simple graph for you at the end to help demonstrate how some of these words and concepts work together in the respiratory cycle.
Hi friends i’m anna and i’m a critical care registered nurse welcome back to another video today we are going to be focusing on defining some common respiratory terms that you’ve probably heard thrown around if you’ve been in healthcare for any amount of time we’re going to break down these words in really simple terms so let’s get started in this video we are
Going to be focusing on defining some respiratory vocabulary and we are going to keep it very simple by just focusing on five terms those terms are peep which is positive and expiratory pressure pip which is the peak inspiratory pressure vt which is tidal volume fio2 the fraction of inspired oxygen and rate sometimes abbreviated as rr for respiratory rate i realize
That a lot of these terms may sound very overwhelming but stick with me i think you’ll have a really great grasp on them by the end of this video the positive end expiratory pressure refers to the amount of air left in the lungs after exhalation peep is the end amount of positive pressure left in the airways after exhalation and peep is a measurable or quantifiable
Term this is in contrast to something like flow peep is measured in centimeters of water to help you visualize some of these concepts and terms we are going to be using a balloon to demonstrate some of these ideas throughout this video to think of peep in terms of our balloon we know that it takes much less air to blow up a balloon that has only partially been
Deflated this air remaining in the balloon is the peep the peak inspiratory pressure is the highest level of pressure applied to the lungs during inhalation this is the force of inhalation and this is how much pressure was created to move the volume of air either in the atmosphere or from the ventilator into the patient’s lungs going back to our balloon example
This would be how much pressure we had to blow into the balloon in order to inflate it completely the tidal volume is the amount of air or the volume of air that’s moved in and out of the lungs with each respiratory cycle going back to our balloon example this is how much air you’re able to blow into the balloon with each breath the fraction of inspired oxygen
Is the percentage of oxygen in the air mixture delivered to the patient remember that room air or the ambient air that we are breathing is 21 oxygen nitrogen makes up most of the rest of the air that we breathe we can deliver anywhere from 21 to 100 oxygen into the air mixture that the patient is breathing the rate or the respiratory rate is how many breaths the
Patient is breathing per minute now that we’ve defined some of these respiratory terms let’s see how they all work together in a very simplified graph on the y-axis we have pressure that’s measured in centimeters of water and on the x-axis we have time measured in seconds you can see that peep is the baseline amount of pressure left in the lungs after exhalation
When the patient takes a breath the pip is the highest level of pressure a patient will reach in inhalation the tidal volume is the amount of air or the volume of air that’s delivered to the patient with each breath i hope this video was helpful and that you have a better grasp on some of these respiratory terms hopefully they’re not as confusing as you may have
Thought they were if you did find this video helpful please give it a like and consider subscribing to my channel to not miss any nursing content from me in the future
Transcribed from video
Nurses' Guide to Respiratory Terms: The Basics By Anna Finley
