Category Archives: Oxygen Therapy

Oxygen Therapy does not address patients with GI emergencies. If their Sats are within limits we cannot give O2 even though the patient may have internal bleeding and lost a lot of hemoglobin.

Hello, two questions. 1. If I am bagging for a patient in respiratory distress but they do not have a supraglottic airway in, how would I measure their end tidal? Will just attaching my end tidal to the bvm without that same seal provide an accurate reading? 2. If I am assisting ventilations via BVM for a COPD patient who is in respiratory failure should I be concerned about their SpO2 going up to 100? Our current BVM's don't have a way to adjust how oxygen they are getting. I don't want to make my COPD patients hypercapnic by delivering too much O2.

What exactly are the oxygen flow rates per mask? I was given a different answer (specifically for a NRB) as a working medic than my friend who is in school

So, just to be perfectly clear, as I have heard this in a round-about way from a few sources... We are not to use high concentration/High Flow oxygen via a BVM with a VSA patient without inserting an SGA - so when treating a VSA pt, we go directly to the SGA without ever using an OPA or NGA, correct? And what are our options if the SGA fails after 2 attempts and we do not have any extra hands to ensure a tight seal on the BVM mask - do we ventilate at all, or just administer compressions and carry on?

Questions regarding intubation. Should we be opting for aggressive airway management with intubation or SGA on VSA patients as well as severely obtunded non-asthmatic patients where patient presentation would allow? Should this take precedence over ACLS drugs during cardiac arrest? When intubated with inline filter in place are we permitted to BVM an normal rate?

*UPDATED* Question: A work email came out on April 8 2020 that lists OBHG recommendations. On the list it states to withhold BVM ventilation in all spontaneously breathing patients that do not improve with BLS airway maneuvers and high conc/low flow mask with filter at 10L/min. A site from OBHG on March 20 2020 states to use BVM in patients with a resp rate < 6 or >40 and sats below 85% with oxygen or ETCO2 >50 and increasing by 5 %. I have also read to limit flow rates no higher than 5 L/M on April 8th it mentions 10 L/M. Can you please confirm a change has been made?

Question: With the new recommendations for oxygen during the pandemic, I’m a bit confused as to what to do if my patient needs >5L NP?

Question: hello, in regards to COVID 19, are paramedics using surgical masks or N-95 when applying Flo2max? will it depend if our patient is screened negative or positive or pending? I understand in AGMP's we are to use N-95. it is my understanding that Flo2max is a high concentration/ low flow mask system. a second question, would you advise to proceed with applying flo2max rather than NRB masks on all patients who are FREI positive and/or Covid 19 screened positive?

In light of the COVID 19 crisis occurring and recent posting from the service about the use of the NRB in patients that are experiencing FREI symptoms and potential exposure to COVID 19 with low O2 sats and difficulty breathing, would the paramedics be supported by the Base Hospital if the patient only received a nasal cannula application at max flow rate of 6 lpm or if they were to use high concentration-low flow masks (Hi-OX, FloO2 system).

Question: For teaching purposes. While assessing a patient, how important is it to determine any and all treatments or interventions provided to the patient by allied agencies, bystanders, self-administration or other medical professionals prior to the arrival of the Paramedics? How important is it to determine an accurate time line of those treatments or interventions? Is oxygen a treatment and/or intervention?

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