Doctors are well aware that if any patient who is on the ventilator, and when he starts to get better of his disease, is taken off from ventilator via a systemic protocol. In common words, it is called "weaning". As patient gets better, and can slowly takes over his or her own breathing -oxygen, respiratory rate and other parameters are progressively cut down. One of our (teaching) attending always used to correct us. If in our presentation we use the word 'weaning', he will say: weaning is a misnomer which misguide doctors. Right terminology is liberation from the ventilator. Many patients never come out of ventilator by getting tangled into nitty jitty of the protocol of weaning. Complications occur during the process which many times can be fatal.
(I remember him coming in the morning, getting sedation off on patients and if on handshake patient feels strong, he will pull endotracheal tube out - and amazingly most patients stayed off ventilator)
Over years, I learned in my life that, same thing is true for relationships. Either relationships exist or they don't! You can't wean relationships.
3 comments:
I am very sure it is true. Some people are out of their f****** heads if think they can.
I have difficulty in following the thinking of your attending. Weaning means a graduated plan of step by step removing or liberating from ventilator but saying only liberation does not convey that graduated process. Removal of ventilator would mean the same thing as liberation
Dont you think?
Actually after our residency - fight of using word 'weaning' or 'liberation' became a kind of battle in pulmonary literature. People advocating against the word of weaning argues that: sometimes weaning takes too long and it subject patients to complications of pneumonia, sepsis etc. And if the words 'liberating from ventilator' become a standard, it will keep the focus on discontinuation of the machine, instead of that slow process, which psychologically comes with word weaning.
Technically, both means same.
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