00:01
Respiratory alkalosis is the opposite
problem, it's a decrease in CO2.
00:06
Now respiratory alkalosis,
caused by hyperventilation.
00:11
Now what do we do to treat it?
Well we're looking to figure out why are
you hyperventilating because that's not normal
Now you look at if a patient, we could
actually put a paper bag over their face.
00:24
That sounds really bizarre, we
don't usually do that in the hospital
but if we've got somebody who is hyperventilating,
what you want to do is figure out
why are they hyperventilating
and fix that problem.
00:35
Now we could put something over their face
like a paper bag and then rebreathe their own CO2,
that would raise the level back up.
00:43
If they're on a ventilator, we would decrease that tidal volume
- the size of the breath that they get or decrease the rate
Because a patient on a ventilator, if those
settings are not best for their body at that time,
it could put them into respiratory alkalosis.
00:58
So look at what is causing
the person to hyperventilate,
maybe they're frightened of something,
maybe they've had or in extreme pain,
whatever it is, address the cause of that
anxiety, it help the patient to calm down.
01:12
Now here's a tip, one of my pet
peeves is what you see nurses do
they walk in a room and a patient is really
upset, they'll say something nice like this.
01:20
"Calm down!", I hate that.
That never works, right?
If I'm air hungry, I'm really nervous, I'm really
anxious, someone just screams at me to calm down,
It's not therapeutic so be patient, take
the time, figure out what your patient needs
so you can help them deal with that anxiety.
01:40
It maybe just talking them through it, relaxation
exercises, they might need some medication
but be very patient, remain calm with
them and help them get back in control.
01:51
Now what does the body do?
That's what you can do, what the body
can do, we're in respiratory alkalosis,
we look to the opposite system
system - that's the renal system.
02:00
Since we're already in
alkalosis, we need less bicarb.
02:05
Hey, hopefully you fix the problem long
before the kidneys have to try to help.