What is an Oxygen Concentrator?
A medical device that converts the approximately 20% oxygen concentration in the air to a higher concentration (up to 90‐95%)
It does this in 5 steps:
- Takes air from the room
- Compresses the oxygen
- Takes out the nitrogen from the air
- Adjusts the way the air is delivered
- Delivers the purified air
Advantages of Oxygen Concentrators
- Portable
- Easy to operate
- Useful for home and hospitals
- Helpful in emergency
Why would you require an oxygen concentrator?
- A major issue with patients suffering from COVID‐19 is shortness of breath
- This symptom can start within 5 to 10 days of the illness
- It can range from mild to severe
- One aspect of treatment is providing the best possible oxygen support
- These patients must ideally be managed in hospital
Why would you require an oxygen concentrator?
- With the high numbers of infected individuals, hospitals are overcrowded with shortages of staff and equipment
- Majority of cases are patients with mild symptoms who don’t require ventilator support
- In some cases breathing therapy by oxygen concentrator helps in stabilising the health of the patient
Monitoring of Home‐Based Oxygen Therapy
- A patient making use of oxygen requires monitoring of his/her clinical condition
- The patient’s condition can improve while at home
- The patient’s condition can worsen while at home
- A medical practitioner is required to monitor and identify whether a patient requires further and more involved medical care or not
Warning…
- Majority of patients that develop complications from COVID19 will have some underlying illness
- These illnesses need to be managed together with the management of COVID19
- A medical doctor’s supervision is required to monitor and administer the correct treatment as well as to identify when further assistance is required
- An oxygen concentrator CANNOT cure everything