Emergence
The patient will gradually begin to breathe and become conscious. This may be noticed by:
- A change in the capnography trace
- Observation of the patient making an effort to breath
The ventilator should now be switched off.
The adequacy of the patient's breathing can now be assessed clinically by feeling the movement of the bag and by monitoring the expired tidal volumes, together with O2 saturations and ETCO2.
Fig 1 Capnography trace showing a ventilated breath
Fig 2 Capnography trace showing a patient's breath