Staying alive life support Life support in medicine

Staying alive – life support

Life support, in medicine is a broad term that refers to a medical intervention used to keep someone alive if they are unable to survive on their own; they could be critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life. Some examples include: • Feeding tubes/artificial nutrition • Mechanical ventilation • Dialysis • Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) • Defibrillation • Heart and lung machines

Feeding tubes A feeding tube is a medical device used to provide nutrition to patients who : * can not swallow correctly * were born with defects in mouth, esophagus or stomach * cannot eat enough by food to stay healthy

Feeding tubes - feeding tubes can be temporary or lifelong - the tubes are made of polyurethane or silicone and can be inserted through the nose or into the stomach (gastrostomy)

Mechanical ventilation A way to mechanically help or replace spontaneous breathing in the short or long term It is often used when people are anesthetized or cannot otherwise breathe on their own (e. g. respiratory failure due to emphysema, etc. )

Ventilation can be accomplished with a machine called a ventilator or a bag that can be compressed.

The insertion of a tube for air (or fluids) is called intubation

Dialysis Replacement of lost kidney function for people with kidney damage or renal failure. Dialysis machines help remove wastes from the body and also remove fluids (two functions of the kidneys)

Defibrillation The delivery of therapeutic doses of electrical energy to parts of the ventricles to re-establish normal contractions in a heart that has dangerous arrhythmia or is in cardiac arrest with a device called a defibrillator.

Defibrillators Four types: 1. Advanced Life Support units – in hospitals and in ambulances, monitors many parameters 2. Automatic external difibrillators – for lay people and found in airports, schools and other public places

3. Implantable cardioverter defibrillators – modified pace makers 4. Wearable defibrillators – interim option for people with a known heart condition but who can’t have an implant.

Heart and Lung machines Cardiac surgery requires life support devices - These machines are a temporary measure that circulates the blood for you and breathes for you - - commonly used in heart surgery: it's difficult to operate on a beating heart!

Heart – lung machine

Life support techniques are most often used in the emergency department, intensive care units and in the operating room. But now with their development, some can be used more and more outside of the hospital. Eg. People can go home with ventilators automated external defibrillators are available in many public places Defibrillators in the jacket pocket