Ventilator Waveform Quiz
Read the pressure, flow, and volume scalars and name the pattern — ten tracings per round.
Tracing 1 of 10
Written by Apex Respiratory Editorial Team
About this quiz
Each round draws ten fresh tracings of the three ventilator scalars — pressure, flow, and volume over three breaths. Read each channel for one thing: on pressure, the gap between peak and plateau (a wide gap is an airway-resistance problem; a high plateau is a stiff lung) and whether the inspiratory limb is scooped (flow starvation); on flow, whether expiratory flow returns to zero before the next breath (auto-PEEP if it doesn’t); on volume, whether the trace returns to baseline (a leak if it doesn’t). Each pattern is paired with the alarm it triggers and the first bedside move.
Educational use only. Tracings are idealized teaching waveforms with a single abnormality each; real ventilator graphics often show overlapping problems, artifact, and patient-ventilator interaction. Always correlate the waveform with the patient and the full set of monitored values. This material supports respiratory therapy education and exam review. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for clinical judgment, institutional protocols, or physician orders. Always follow facility policies and current provider orders, and verify calculations independently before clinical use.
Sources
- Kacmarek RM, Stoller JK, Heuer AJ. Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Care. 12th ed. Elsevier; 2021. Patient-ventilator interactions and graphics chapters.
- Hess DR, Kacmarek RM. Essentials of Mechanical Ventilation. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill Education; 2019.