Respiratory therapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Respiratory therapy - Essay Example   The end result would be deteriorating health conditions especially brain damage and in worst case scenarios, death of the patient. Another breach of standards of care was failure of the respiratory therapist to record the portable ventilators settings and alarm parameters before leaving the neurological intensive care unit. The nurse also played a role in the breach by failure to verify the same considering it is the duty of the stated nurse to do so. The registered nurse also failed to make any entry in his medical record regarding both the patient’s vital signs and the alarm parameters. This is a clear breach of the standards of care that state the records should be updated before the transfer of such patients. The failure of both the registered nurse and the respiratory therapist to keep the necessary records implied that in the event of further deterioration by the patient, the alarm system was unable to go off and notify the respective practitioners on the situation. Failure of the nurse to record the patient’s vital signs ensured that consequent monitoring could not be done. The other breach of standards of care was failure of the nurse to inform the other healthcare providers that she had administered a paralytic drug to the patient. Lastly, both the respiratory therapist and the registered nurse did not focus on the cardiac monitor for fluctuations as is required by the standards. Instead, the nurse was listening for alarms who parameters were never set in the first place. No alarm sounded despite the failing conditions of the plaintiff.