Precautions for home oxygen therapy

With the development of science and technology, people's living standards continue to improve, and the demand for health is gradually increasing. Oxygen inhalation will gradually become an important means of healing in families and communities. Home oxygen concentrators have gradually entered the family. Many people only know the oxygen concentrators, but they are not very clear about some basic knowledge of the oxygen concentrators, and they don’t know what to pay attention to when using them. Next, we will explain to you about four items to pay attention to in home oxygen therapy.

1. Reasonable choice of oxygen inhalation time. For patients with severe chronic bronchial disease, emphysema, with clear lung function abnormality, and oxygen partial pressure continuously below 60 mmHg, oxygen therapy should be given for more than 15 hours a day; for some patients, there is usually in mild hypoxemia, short-term oxygen administration can alleviate the discomfort of "shortness of breath" during activity, tension or fatigue.

2. Pay attention to control the oxygen flow. After oxygen is inhaled by the oxygen concentrator, the effective oxygen concentration in the patient's lungs is determined by the oxygen flow rate of the oxygen concentrator and the corresponding oxygen concentration. Therefore, 1 liter and 2 liter oxygen concentrators have no therapeutic value at all! An oxygen concentrator with a capacity of more than 3 liter depends on the specific respiratory disease, it is asthma? Emphysema? Pulmonary Fibrosis? COPD? Is there carbon dioxide retention? Alveolar inspired oxygen concentration = 21 + 4x (L/min). If you buy 5 liter oxygen concentrator at home, the alveolar inhaled oxygen concentration should be calculated as follows: 21+4x5=41%. Therefore, the lower the flow rate of the machine, the lower the alveolar inhaled oxygen concentration will naturally be. Therefore, it is suitable for high flow and high concentration respiratory diseases to use 10 liters to have a therapeutic effect. If there are patients with carbon dioxide retention, it is necessary to use a low-flow and high-concentration oxygen concentrator to inhale oxygen.

3. When using oxygen, the important oxygen supply device should be shock-proof, oil-proof, fire-proof and heat-proof. The oxygen concentrator that meets the national standard of medical oxygen concentrator is equipped with various intelligent monitoring systems as standard, including oxygen concentration alarm, pressure alarm, temperature alarm, power failure alarm, etc. Do not place the oxygen concentrator next to the radiator or the hot air outlet of the air conditioner in winter.

4. Maintaining a humidity of 95% and above in the respiratory tract is a necessary condition for the normal clearance function of the mucociliary system. Therefore, inhaled oxygen should be passed through a humidifying device to prevent dry oxygen from irritating and damaging the airway mucosa. 1/3 of distilled water or purified water should be added to the humidifier bottle.

Other matters needing attention：

1. Pay attention to control the oxygen flow rate;

2. It is very important to pay attention to the safety of oxygen. The oxygen supply device should be shock-proof, oil-proof, fire-proof and heat-proof. When transporting the oxygen cylinder, avoid dumping and impact to prevent explosion; because oxygen can support combustion, the oxygen cylinder should be placed in a cool place, away from fireworks and flammable products, at least 5 meters away from the stove and 1 meter away from the heater;

3. Pay attention to humidification to avoid irritation and damage to airway mucous membranes caused by dry oxygen.