9 ms·

I'm surprised we haven't seen anything detailing the supply chain involving O2. This is as important than the actual machine.

• DataDrivenMD 7y ago
  Anesthesiologist here: yes and no. It depends on whether the patient is having difficulty clearing CO2, in which case ventilation is more important. If the patient’s lungs are unable to extract sufficient oxygen from the air such that the blood oxygen levels drop below a certain threshold, then supplemental oxygen becomes important. In fact, excessively high oxygen concentrations in inhaled gas has the potential to damage lung tissue. Hopefully this helps to explain why the ability to titrate oxygen flows is important. If we can do that effectively, we can conserve our oxygen supply for those who need it.
  • duckymcduckface 7y ago
    Where do hospitals get their O2 supply from out of curiosity? Do they buy it from one of the major gas suppliers like praxair or airliquide and store it in the back as GOX/LOX or can it also be produced on site?
    • khwerou098 7y ago
      In the past they had large tanks of liquid O2. More recently, many have a large oxygen concentrator machine on site which just takes it from the air.