Introduction: Breathing is one of the basic life activities without which there is no life. In the event of airway obstruction, life-threatening death may occur. The biggest cause of hypoxia is a precisely the airway obstruction, to which the nurse must pay attention. The basic measure is airway relaxation, maintenance of the free airway and insurance. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to describe the role of the nurse when the patient stops breathing and to present the possible establishment of gas exchange, which illustrates breathing or. replace it. The purpose is also a short presentation of the intensive care unit, when it can be linked to the title. Methods: We used a descriptive method of domestic and foreign literature. We used PubMed, CINAHL and Cohrane Library, COBISS.SI and Science Direct databases. Literature was sought in professional publications and proceedings. We used peer-reviewed articles with freely available full text published between 2008 and 2019. Results: A nurse must have the ability to observe and recognize the symptoms of respiratory distress. They must be qualified and ready to help a patient as rapidly, correctly, responsibly, and professionally as possible. Education and practical training is vital to acquire the knowledge and competences. An important nurse's activity is to assure patient's free airways, oxygenation, ventilation, and to prevent the aspiration of stomach content, blood and other body excretes. The first action to be taken with a patient with respiratory tract obstruction is to tilt back their head and lift their lower jaw. Rapid sequence intubation is advisable for patients who still have their protective reflexes. A nurse also assists a doctor when intubating. When freeing the respiratory tract, a nurse uses different equipment to assure sufficient gas exchange. Discussion and conclusion: It is important for a nurse to have sufficient knowledge and can anticipate certain things because that helps lessen the chance of undesirable outcome. Freeing and maintenance of respiratory tract are vital, as well as the use of different tubus and I-gels or ventilation. If these assistive devices are not effective, an intubation is carried out, since it is easily monitored through a screen, showing all vital functions, and a ventilator, controlled by a doctor. In case of saturation drop, a patient needs aspiration to free their airways.
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