From the classroom to the emergency room, O.R. and beyond. You're joining Trauma ICU Rounds with your host, Dr. Dennis Kim.

Welcome to trauma ICU rounds. I'm your host, Dr. Dennis Kim. Today we'll be continuing our discussion on acute respiratory failure and review key management

principles in the recognition and immediate treatment of patients with this life-threatening

condition.

We'll also discuss some common methods of providing supplemental oxygen therapy.

There are three key learning objectives for today's talk by the end of rounds you should

be able to, number one, appreciate the end of rounds you should be able to number one

appreciate the importance of the primary assessment or a b cd e approach to managing patients with

acute respiratory failure second you should have a better understanding of the advantages and

disadvantages of different modalities for delivering oxygen therapy from nasal cannula to the

non-re breather mask. Finally, we'll provide a brief overview of optimal oxygen targets in hospitalized

patients. So previously we defined acute respiratory failure as a failure of oxygen or ventilation

severe enough to threaten one's life. Further, we define and

classified hypoxemic and hypercaptych respiratory failure on the basis of blood gas and oxygen saturation

criteria. For example, we define hypoxemia as a partial pressure of arterial oxygen, less than 55

millimeters of mercury.

In the real world, however, this data is usually not readily available when you happen

to stumble across a struggling patient on the war during morning rounds, or when you get called

to the bedside to assess a patient with sats in the mid-80s. What am I getting at here?

Well, quite simply, in the absence of formal or objective gas exchange data, a thoughtful and focused clinical exam is critical

to identifying the presence of acute respiratory failure and increased work of breathing. Further,

once we recognize that a patient is in trouble or respiratory distress, whether

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