1However, despite updated education standards, many EMS providers are still resistant to change their tried and true method of excessive oxygen delivery to ALL patients, especially those experiencing chest pain. To this extent, the current European Society of Cardiology guidelines recommends giving oxygen only when oxygen saturation levels are below 90 percent, but not above. Research shows that time and time again, that routine and unchecked high-flow oxygen administration reaches toxic internal levels within minutes. 5 Continuing oxygen delivery outside this parameter is not helpful, and likely, very harmful. Currently, the AHA recommends maintaining SpO 2 saturation readings between 94 to 99 percent. So, how can oxygen, something we all need to survive, be such a bad thing?įor example, if a patient suffers from respiratory distress or hypoxia, why not give as much as possible? The answer is: respiratory distress/hypoxic patients SHOULD always receive supplemental oxygen, but only to the point of re-establishing normal saturations. A pulse oximetry reading as close to 100% as possible is the gold standard, and achieving anything less than that is considered inadequate patient care. This concept has been taught in initial and continuing education classes for years and written into protocol after protocol with the mindset “more oxygen is better”. The remedy? Administration of supplemental medical oxygen! Easy, right? Simply amazing! As efficient as the body is, unfortunately, it is not immune to disease – some of which cause hypoxemia and/or hypoxia. Thus, with the billions and billions of cells within our body, they operate using only a small percentage of the oxygen we intake. The atmosphere contains 21 percent oxygen, and we exhale, on average, 16 percent.
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