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Not quite. The vent process itself requires careful management to provide net benefit (eg, controlling the level of sedation, avoiding secondary lung injury). So while the non-vent care is what makes the difference, improper use of a hospital grade vent is more likely to do harm than good. Eg, Vents frequently clog. It requires a little bit of clinical experience to recognize that as what’s happening, and intervene appropriately. It’s not a complicated thing, and anyone that’s worked the ICU for a bit can recognize and handle it, but it would be a killer in the hands of a layman, and it’s only one out of a hundred issues. Additionally, I’d hesitate to describe it as buying time, because that implies a linear sequence. Let’s say you have condition X that implies oxygenation and blood perfusion. Vent manages oxygenation while I work on maintaining perfusion and the underlying X, but if all I have is the vent, the patient will still die from lack of perfusion. The vent didn’t buy any additional time, it just closed off one route of death temporarily. When a patient needs a vent, it’s very rare that the vent is the only route to death that is being proceeded along. This was pretty stream of consciousness, but I’m typing in the bathroom, so ... sorry if it’s a bit of a mess. |