Ace the Cough Reflex Test 2025 – Boost Your Respiratory Skills Today!

In managing a patient with status asthmaticus who is receiving volume ventilation and has an elevated arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) level, adjusting the inspiratory time is crucial to improving ventilation and gas exchange. The current inspiratory-to-expiratory ratio of 1:2 indicates that there is twice as much time allotted for expiration compared to inspiration. If the patient's PaCO2 is elevated at 51 torr, this suggests that they are not adequately ventilating and retaining carbon dioxide.

By decreasing the inspiratory time, the respiratory therapist allows the expiratory phase to be prolonged relative to the inspiratory phase. This can help lower the elevated PaCO2 by providing more time for expiration. In patients with obstructive airway conditions like asthma, ensuring sufficient time for expiration is vital, as these patients often have prolonged expiratory phases due to airway resistance. Thus, decreasing the inspiratory time optimizes the I:E ratio for better gas exchange and ventilation.

Other settings like expiratory time or tidal volume adjustments would not directly target the problem of elevated CO2 as effectively as adjusting the inspiratory time. Flow rate could be related to how quickly the breath is delivered, but it does not specifically address the need for extended expiration given the current level