Ventilator sychronization indicator

1. An apparatus comprising:

a display; and

a processing unit to receive a first input based on airflow in a ventilator for a breath and a second input based upon ventilator firing for the breath, wherein the processing unit is configured to determine a phase angle based on a relationship between the first input and the second input and to provide an indication on the display of a nature of dis-synchrony of airflow and ventilator firing based on the phase angle, wherein the indication comprises a visual depiction of a phase angle relationship between successive breaths and wherein the visual depiction comprises a graphical plotting of the phase angle relationship of successive breath pairs with respect to an origin and x and y axes intersecting one another at the origin, the graphical plotting comprises a plurality of breath pair markings, each marking having an x-coordinate value starting from the origin based upon the phase angle of one of the successive breaths and a y-coordinate value starting from the origin based upon the phase angle of the other of the successive breaths.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to visually depict thresholds above and below which a breath pair is deemed to indicate a missed breath triggering.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising an input to the processing unit, wherein the thresholds are adjustable in response to selections provided to the input.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to provide a visual indication of an age of each breath pair mark.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to visually depict a threshold with respect to the origin beyond which a breath pair mark is deemed to suggest the adjustment of ventilator trigger sensitivity.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is configured to indicate a chaotic breathing characteristic or a patient fighting the ventilator characteristic in response to a phase angle relationship between successive breaths falling into either a second quadrant or a fourth quadrant.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is configured to indicate a passive patient characteristic in response to a phase angle relationship of successive breaths falling in a third quadrant.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit is configured to provide a suggestion for trigger sensitivity adjustment in response to a phase angle relationship of successive breaths lying beyond a predetermined distance from an origin.

9. A method comprising:

for each of a plurality of breaths, determining a phase angle between a first signal based on ventilator airflow for a breath and a second signal based upon ventilator firing for the breath; and

providing an indication of a nature of dis-synchrony of airflow and ventilator firing based on the phase angle, wherein the indication comprise a visual depiction of a phase angle relationship between successive breaths, and wherein the visual depiction comprises a graphical plotting of the phase angle relationship of successive breath pairs with respect to an origin and x and y axes intersecting one another at the origin, the graphical plotting comprises a plurality of breath pair markings, each marking having an x-coordinate value starting from the origin based upon the phase angle of one of the successive breaths and a y-coordinate value starting from the origin based upon the phase angle of the other of the successive breaths.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising visually depicting thresholds above and below which a breath pair is deemed to indicate a missed breath triggering.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising adjusting the thresholds.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising visually indicating an age of each breath pair mark.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising visually depicting a threshold with respect to the origin beyond which a breath pair mark is deemed to suggest the adjustment of ventilator trigger sensitivity.

14. The method of claim 9 comprising indicating a chaotic breathing characteristic or a patient fighting the ventilator characteristic in response to a phase angle relationship between successive breaths falling into either a second quadrant or a fourth quadrant.

15. The method of claim 9 comprising indicating a passive patient characteristic in response to a phase angle relationship of successive breaths falling in a third quadrant.

16. The method of claim 9 comprising indicating a suggestion for trigger sensitivity adjustment in response to a phase angle relationship of successive breaths lying beyond a predetermined distance from an origin.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a non-transient computer-readable medium comprising code to direct a processing unit to:

to receive a first input based on airflow in a ventilator for a breath;

to receive a second input based upon ventilator firing for the breath;

to determine a phase angle based on a relationship between the first input and the second input; and

to provide an indication on a display of a nature of dis-synchrony of the first input and the second input based on the phase angle, wherein the indication comprises a visual depiction of a phase angle relationship between successive breaths and wherein the visual depiction comprises a graphical plotting of the phase angle relationship of successive breath pairs with respect to an origin and x and y axes intersecting one another at the origin, the graphical plotting comprises a plurality of breath pair markings, each marking having an x-coordinate value starting from the origin based upon the phase angle of one of the successive breaths and a y-coordinate value starting from the origin based upon the phase angle of the other of the successive breaths.