Does your patient need and qualify for oxygen therapy
The following was originally published on April 15, 2015 at healthcentral.com/copd. Do you need oxygen therapy? Sometimes people with COPD need to inhale more oxygen than what is provided in the air. The way this is accomplished is by using oxygen therapy. So what is oxygen therapy, and do you need it? Oxygen in room air contains 21 percent oxygen. Usually this is plenty of oxygen. However, certain disease conditions, such as what may occur as COPD progresses , or during COPD flare-ups, may create areas inside your lungs where oxygen is inhaled, but cannot get to your bloodstream. When enough of these areas exist, your blood oxygen levels may decline. To learn more about oxygen and oxygen levels, please read my post “ Understanding Oxygen and Oxygen Levels with COPD .” What is oxygen therapy? It involves inhaling supplemental oxygen, or oxygen percentages that are greater than 21 percent. It allows you to inhale 22-100 percent oxygen, depending on the device used. Nasal C...