Ok, first off all I can say is WTF?!? That's all the training you get on mechanical ventilation? Or just on the Newport (HT50?) That's totally not ok. My program (granted it's a CCT air ambulance program) conducts a week of mechanical ventilation during orientation, plus regular high-fidelity patient sims, plus yearly con-ed on the topic. This seems to me to be what's required to give the topic the attention it deserves.

Please understand, I am in no way faulting you. YOU did the right thing and recognized a knowledge gap, and you're doing something about it.

Ok...start with these podcasts: Dominating the Vent Parts 1 and 2. This should be a good place to start.

Next, get yourself a copy of this book: Ventilator Management: A Prehospital Perspective

Next, listen to any podcast you can on the topic of transport mechanical ventilation: FlightBridge ED and The MeduCast are good places to start. Both are available on iTunes.

Finally, ask questions - ask hospital RT's. Ask any clinical educators you have. Ask here. Ask someone who knows about the topic.

I'll level with you - an improperly applied and maintained transport ventilator will kill any patient faster than you can imagine at worst, and make their condition worse at best. It's critically important that we as transport professionals "do no harm". Not knowing how to use a transport ventilator properly (either the theory of mechanical ventilation or just the "knobology" of the specific ventilator you're using) is doing your patients a potentially catastrophic disservice.

So thank you for being a patient advocate and doing something about it.