In the last of the 3 episodes on oxygen, Keith and Courtney discuss how we can monitor the concentration of oxygen our patient is receiving and also how to monitor our patient’s oxygenation levels – both manually and with a machine. We can “flip the lip” (but human eyesight can’t detect cyanosis for quite some time), use our pulse oximeter or run a blood gas analysis. Assuming the patient has normal haemoglobin levels. Anaemia, carbon monoxide poisoning from a house fire and even an overdose of certain everyday drugs can affect functional haemoglobin availability! They finish this episode highlighting the importance of using an oxygen concentrator in a circle breathing system, and why we initially have high fresh gas flows to remove the nitrogen sitting in the tubing and carbon dioxide absorbing canister.

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related