What monitoring should occur during the use of mechanical ventilation?

During mechanical ventilation, continuous end-tidal CO2 monitoring and oxygen saturation are crucial components of patient management. End-tidal CO2 monitoring provides real-time feedback on the patient’s ventilatory status, allowing clinicians to assess the effectiveness of ventilation and detect any issues, such as breath stacking or hypoventilation, promptly. Changes in end-tidal CO2 levels can indicate inadequate ventilation, so continuous monitoring helps ensure that the patient is receiving the appropriate volume of air and carbon dioxide is being adequately expelled.

Simultaneously, monitoring oxygen saturation is vital for evaluating the patient’s oxygenation status. This metric helps determine if the patient is adequately oxygenated or if adjustments need to be made to the ventilatory settings or supplemental oxygen delivery. Keeping track of both of these parameters continuously allows for immediate interventions if the patient’s condition changes, significantly enhancing patient safety and treatment efficacy.

Other monitoring methods, while important in their contexts, do not provide the same level of real-time feedback or are less frequent in their application. For example, intermittent heart rate checks may miss critical changes in the patient’s respiratory condition, daily lung function tests would not provide the immediate information needed to address changes, and vital signs checked every hour can delay necessary responses to acute changes in the patient's