Like, is it really just a pump with a mask?
Depends on what they mean by 'ventilator'.
'Pump with a mask' is not typically referred to as a 'ventilator' in the medical world.
'Pump with a mask' is typically seen as either a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) or a BiPAP (Bi-Level Positive Airway Pressure) machine.
These are mask devices that assist with breathing by aiding the person's inspired ventilation pressure and also help the person maintain the natural expiratory ventilation pressure to guard against natural lung collapse. I will skip the boring details, but what it essentially boils down to is that the person breathes on their own, but these devices 'assist' their own breathing.
'Pump with mask' devices do not fully ventilate you, they merely boost your own natural ventilations. You have to have your own natural ventilations in order for a 'pump with a mask' to be able to help you.
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Ventilators (in the sense that I know the word) on the other hand do exactly that. They fully ventilate a person. These are for when a person cannot ventilate themselves at all in any way shape or form. When it is no longer required that we 'help' or 'assist' your ventilations, but when we actually have to fully ventilate you %100 all the way. In other words, without a ventilator, you don't breathe at all.
True 'ventilators', in the sense that I know and work with them, require a person to either be intubated (tube in your throat) or to have a tracheostomy (hole in your neck).
When I 'ventilate' a person I am not 'assisting' them to breathe. I am actually breathing for them all the way. Every single breath they take does not come from them but actually comes from me.
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But then we all have to remember one simple word: 'media'.
We are seeing the word 'ventilator' used in the realm of the media. What do they mean when they use the word 'ventilator'? Who fucking knows.
Do they mean CPAP or BiPAP? Do they mean actual Ventilators? Do they mean both? Does a single one of them even have a clue what the difference is? Unknown. The safe bet, as we all learned from GG (if not before) is that these people live in a bubble of pure stupid in San Francisco or New York and have literally no idea how the actual world functions.
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