During the 80’s and 90’s our independent pharmacy was the largest respiratory supplier in two counties. We had a couple of hundred pts on home oxygen.. when a pt was on supplemental oxygen typically it was via nasal cannula at 2 LPM.. In those rare incidents where pts needed to put on a oxygen mask… it was necessary to bump up the oxygen flow to 5-6 LPM… so that the mask was flushed out between pt’s breaths of the CO2 the patient exhaled. If this was not done, CO2 is heavier than air and if not this higher flow and re-breathing CO2 could settle in the bottom of the lungs and block the Alveoli which exchanges the Oxygen in the air we breathe and getting it into the pt’s artery system.
I suspect that if the oxygen level could have been measured at the bottom of this pt’s lungs… it would probably been LOWER …
Filed under: General Problems
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