CPAP in Hospital

Okay on Monday I am having surgery on my back for a ruptured L5 S1, which means my lowest disc is pinching my sciatica, and its a bad rupture.

Well anyways back to my question. I asked if I needed to bring my own mask and machine in and the surgeons nurse said either way would be fine. She said some people like bringing their own in because their mask fits just right and blah blah. But she said if I didn't bring mask and/or machine that they would just hook me up at the hospital.

I would like to take mine just because its what I am used to, but then on the other hand i don't want the hassle. I am also worried that someone won't read my chart and not put the apnea mask on after surgery. Any ideas?

I have surgery coming up the 20th of September and I was told to bring my own equipment. I've had to use the hospital's XPAP before and found out that they don't necessarily know how to properly set them. So I'm way more comfortable with the fact that mine is already at my settings and the mask is fitted to me, at least as best a fit as one can expect from a XPAP mask.

I've read that it's a good idea to take in your own equipment... and others have suggested that before the procedure you talk to and inform everyone involved in your prep, surgery, and followup about your condition and the need for the equipment and proper followup (including the anesthesiologist, VERY important! ... since people with SA can take longer to recover from the anesthetics).

I would also suggest labelling all your equipment with your name so it can get identified if it happens to get lost in the shuffle for whatever reason.

But probably others who have had this experience can probably give you more accurate advice.

Good luck with surgery and a speedy recovery!!

echo wrote: others have suggested that before the procedure you talk to and inform everyone involved in your prep, surgery, and followup about your condition and the need for the equipment and proper followup (including the anesthesiologist, VERY important! ...

Definitely inform everyone especially your anesthesiologist. I know I'm new at this only on having 3 home days with my machine, but I purposefully talked to the tech during my sleep study about the fact that I was going to be going into surgery and they said that I needed to inform my anesthesiologist because they have a different way of intubating people with OSA after they knock you out so it's very important.

echo wrote: I would also suggest labelling all your equipment with your name so it can get identified if it happens to get lost in the shuffle for whatever reason.

Another very important detail because the hospital wont take responsibility if something happens to your equipment either so you got to do everything you can to make sure it end up back in your hands.

I would assume, after the surgery and before you wake up from the anesthesia, you will be in a recovery room where they will still be monitoring you very heavily. They would be watching if you had a problem

Once you wake up enough to be moved into a room where they will not be watching you so closely, you will be alert enough to ask for your (or their) equipment.

I had a double disk replacement a while ago myself, and even though it was a good hospital and a great doctor, they made mistakes and I didn't get the kind of response I would have liked with the nurses, so you're right to question something being forgotten.

There seems to be fewer and fewer nurses and more and more patients these days.

I personally would want my own mask. Can you have someone bring your machine as a backup just in case they don't get one up there for you in time? And if you bring any of your items, mark them well with your information!

WELL, SINCE I AM A NURSE IN A HOSPITAL I WILL SAY DEFINETLY BRING YOUR OWN. MANY PEOPLE COME IN WITHOUT THEIR MACHINES AND HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEIR PRESSURES ARE AND THE MD WON'T ORDER THE C-PAP WITHOUT A PRESSURE AND RESPIRATORY WON'T HOOK ONE UP WITHOUT HAVING A PRESCRIBED PRESSURE. YOUR OWN MACHINE IS ALREADY SET AT THE RIGHT PRESSURE SO ALL THE MD HAS TO DO IS WRITE THAT YOU MAY USE YOUR OWN. ALSO IF YOU USE THE HUMIDIFIER, MANY HOSPITALS WON'T SUPPLY THE DISTILLED WATER SO YOU MAY HAVE TO PROVIDE YOUR OWN OR USE TAP WATER. ALSO MAKE SURE YOU BRING YOUR OWN MASK AND PUT LABELS WITH YOUR NAME ON THE MACHINE. GOOD LUCK, PAT

Anonymous wrote:I would assume, after the surgery and before you wake up from the anesthesia, you will be in a recovery room where they will still be monitoring you very heavily. They would be watching if you had a problem

Once you wake up enough to be moved into a room where they will not be watching you so closely, you will be alert enough to ask for your (or their) equipment.

I've heard that that's not necessarily the case - I can't remember the details off the top of my head but basically due to OSA you have a longer recovery time, but they send you back to the room anyway while you're still not really alert enough, and therefore can still have problems/complications....

I knew there was info on it here at the site (from the yellow light bulb up top):
Sleep Apnea & CPAP Considerations for Surgery & Anesthetics
cpaptalk-articles/CPAP-surgery.html

alpha1340. I will say a prayor for you. I have a hernia in the same area that you have your rupture. I have had 3 nerve block's (last on in July) in that area.My last one was the first time i have been in the hospital since i went on Cpap in March. I brought my machine. I had concious sedation/twilight sleep. The nurses/staff in the OR had me explain my machine to them. They did hook up a connection between the hose and machine so they could add O2 to the line.

John

Make sure that your family insists on being aware that you are on your CPAP in Recovery. That is often the area where they fail to ensure you are on your CPAP and problems occur.

You may also want to contact the Respiratory Director at the hospital you are having the surgery at. Many hospitals require that any equipment being brought in from outside the hospital for use on a patient, is check by the Bio-Medical Dept before it is used in the hospital.

If your hospital has a policy like this, you may need to show up a little early so you can take it down to Bio-Med yourself and get it checked.

I have been on CPAP for 5 years. 3 years ago I had bi-lateral hernia repair. 1 year ago I had an appendectomy.

Absolutely you need to inform the anesthesiologist, you also need to inform your surgeon. When you are in the pre-operative area let the staff know as well, and ask them to please make sure the recovery room nurses are aware.

In both of my cases I brought my own machine, hose, mask, everything I would need. The hernia repair was in Miami, the appendectomy was in Southern California, both hospitals allowed me to use my own machine, but they each required me to sign a waiver. Each hospital also put tape on the machine indicating that it was patient owned, and they refused to be responsible for custody of the machine. The nursing staff did make sure that I was using the machine at appropriate times, they just seemed to be concerned that if the machine was lost or stolen that it was not their problem.

Frankly it makes sense to bring your own machine. As others have said, it is already set to the right pressure, you already know how it operates, and hopefully the mask is a pretty good fit. If you have a copy of your original prescription from your sleep doctor, bring that, you might even want to tape it to the machine for the staff to see since this information will almost certainly not be on your chart. I would suggest that you bring a moderate length extension cord, since the hospital owned equipment gets priority on the wall outlets, the outlet you are allowed to use might not be close to the bed. There are serious grounding issues involved in hospitals where oxygen is used, don't argue about "needing" to use the outlet you want. If the hospital requires an inspection of your machine this will be one of the things they look at closely, fire in an area with a high partial pressures of oxygen is extremely dangerous.

Good luck with your surgery, and best wishes for a complication free recovery.

Roadie

I'm a ICU Charge RN. The hospital where I work (big 700 beds) doesn't allow patients to use their own equipment. They consider it a risk management issue since staff can't possibly know how to work every piece of medical equipment out on the market. I was an inpatient back in December and snuck my own CPAP and mask in with me. When I returned back to work I called our Risk Manager and told her since the hospital couldn't provide me with what I needed (apparently our machines don't have humidifiers) I was forced to do what was best for me.What would they do...send me to CPAP jail???(isn't that a pretty picture?) I have since provided her with ASAA guidelines for patients personal equipment use.

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lvwildcat wrote: I have since provided her with ASAA guidelines for patients personal equipment use.

Can you highlight what those guidelines mean to the common patient and CPAP? I only know what my experience has been, I would love to know what the industry standard guidelines are. I fully understand that some hospitals will fall short of adherance to those guidelines, while others will exceede them.

Roadie

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Take your own machine with you to the surgery and make very, very sure that everyone - doctors, nirses, admin staff - know that you have OSA. You should be wearing a Medic-Alert bracleet identifying that you have sleep apnea. Doctors don't look at the bracelets but nurses do.

When you are on the gurney outside of the OR an OR nurse will come to ask you a number of questions to make sure you are the right patient and to confirm the purpose of the operation. The nurse should also confirm that you have OSA and that your machine will be or is set up in the recovery room. Starting yelling at the top of your lungs if the information the nurse has is the least bit incomplete or inaccurate - I mean yell.

I had major eye surgery in 1999 and we arranged for my wife to go into recovery and put the mask on me and get the machine going. Good thing 'cause the recovery room nurse I had didn't know where to start!!

In June I had surgery and was in the hospital for four nights. I would strongly recommend bringing your own cpap equipment if possible. I wish I would have brought my own from the start!

- The anesthesiologists thanked me several times for informing them about my sleep apnea and bringing the cpap info.

- When I went to sleep in the OR and when I woke up in recovery I was on CPAP. I think the anesthesiologists made sure I had it here. My parents recall my nurse remarking that "they don't usually get CPAP machines in here".

- But when I got to my room the cpap did not come with me, and there was no order written for it until the next day.

- On night two, the respiratory tech brought a BiPap machine and nasal mask similar to what i use at home, hooked me up set the pressure and left. I tried using it for an hour or so and couldn't stand it. (at that time I had been using CPAP at home for about 11 months and close to 100% compliant). The machine sounded like a vaccum cleaner, had no humidifer, no ramp and it seemed like I was fighting it to breathe. Also I was on oxygen had an exhaled CO2 monitor hooked up, which made getting the mask to seal difficult.

- On night three the same respiratory tech tried a full face mask to get a better seal. It did seal better but with the noise and uncomfortable breathing I used it even less.

- On night four my parents brought me my own machine. The nurse was able to get some water for me (it wasn't exactly distilled but it was the water they use to flush wounds with). I did manage to sleep several hours that night. A different respiratory tech saw I had my own machine and I found out from her that not many patients do well with the hospital supplied machines. 1) The hospital supplied CPAP's don't 'breathe' the same as what they are used to. 2) The hospital doesn't use humidifiers. She also remarked the doctors get upset with them because the patients don't/won't use CPAP while in the hospital.

My main concren about bringing my own machine was not being able to keep track of it all the time and the possibility of the machine getting damaged. I should have taken it along on the day of surgery and left it with my parents during the surgery, and they could have taken I to my room afterwards.

I would take my own equipment and make sure ALL of your doctors are aware you use CPAP.