Key Points

• A ventilator is a machine that helps people breathe. Ventilators:
  • Get oxygen into the lungs
  • Remove carbon dioxide from the body
  • Help people breathe easier
  • Breathe for people who have lost all ability to breathe
• Ventilators don’t treat diseases or conditions. They’re used only for life support.
• A ventilator often is used for short periods, such as during surgery when you’re under anesthesia (that is, if you’re given medicines that temporarily put you to sleep and cause a loss of feeling). The medicines used to induce anesthesia can disrupt normal breathing. A ventilator helps make sure that you continue breathing during surgery.
• A ventilator also may be used during treatment for a serious lung disease or other condition that affects normal breathing.
• Ventilators blow air—or air with increased amounts of oxygen—into the airways and then the lungs. This is done using a breathing tube. Usually, the breathing tube is put into your windpipe through your nose or mouth. Sometimes the tube is put directly into your windpipe through a hole in the front of your neck.
• Ventilators normally don’t cause pain, but they greatly restrict your activity and limit your movement. People who need ventilators long term may get portable machines. These machines let them move around.
• One of the most serious and common risks of being on a ventilator is pneumonia. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is linked to the breathing tube that’s put in your airway when you’re on a ventilator. The tube may make it easy for bacteria to get into the lungs. It also makes it hard for you to cough. Coughing is important for helping to get rid of bacteria.
• Other risks of being on a ventilator include pneumothorax, lung damage, oxygen toxicity, blood clots, and serious skin infections.
• “Weaning” is the process of taking you off a ventilator so that you can start to breathe on your own. People usually are weaned after they’ve recovered enough from the problem that caused them to need the ventilator. Most people are able to breathe on their own the first time weaning is tried. If repeated weaning attempts over a long time don’t work, you may need to use the ventilator long term.
• Most people need ventilators only for a short time. If you need to be on a ventilator for a long time, you may be able to have one at home.