Portable Oxygen Concentrators - A Simple Guide
Portable oxygen machines and specially portable oxygen concentrator s have changed the way many people, who will need to have continuous or semi continuous oxygen therapy, are now living.
It used to be that mobility for COPD patients was severely restricted. This meant being house bound or overly influenced by a hospital or clinic.
With the advent of much more practical and better quality portable machines, patients mobility has increased dramatically and you could now find people on supplemental oxygen doing a lot of things they wouldn't have imagined a few years ago.
This has happened due to the new portable tanks, because of more advanced conserving devices (that regulate the delivery rates) and, possibly the most important reason of all - the introduction of portable oxygen concentrators.
An oxygen concentrator is a machine that extracts oxygen from the surrounding air, it concentrates it and delivers it - right to the patient (in a home concentrator machine it is also used to refill an oxygen cylinder). At sea level and when air pollution isn't an issue, ambient air is composed of approximately 21% oxygen, 88% nitrogen and a reduced amount of various gases. The oxygen concentrator extracts oxygen, concentrates it and delivers it to the individual.
Things You Need To Know:
You need a power source to use, which may be both with rechargeable batteries and a plug in option (including for vehicle).
There is a continuous rumble from the concentrators motor.
You can adjust the flow level in accordance with your prescription.
There are the latest models of with different weights the give allow for your mobility.
Always check your battery durability and as a safety precaution you ought to have a spare and charged battery.
Portable oxygen concentrators arrived on the scene around 2002 and since that time have had an excellent impact in the portable oxygen delivery area.
The major difference between an oxygen concentrator and an oxygen cylinder or tank, is that the concentrator isn't a storage device but a supplier of oxygen. This means that so long as the power source is uninterrupted, oxygen will still be delivered so long as needed. In a tank there will always be the limitation based on the amount of oxygen that is stored, whether liquid or gas.
The brand new designs have both a primary plug in option (to help you plug them in cars, for instance) along with being battery operated. They're smaller, lighter and therefore easier to carry and have a primary and positive effect on peoples mobility.
It seems as if each new model is smaller and contains more durable rechargeable batteries.
An important benefit is they have increased the chance of travel for patients on extra oxygen, and actually one of the most important aspects of that is that by May, 2009, the FAA authorized the utilization of some portable oxygen concentrators up to speed airlines that cross US airspace (this means all arriving and departing flights). This change is of great consequence as flights was a major problem. It really is still, however, a good idea to check with your airline before a flight.
Although living and having to be determined by supplemental oxygen isn't something anyone would willingly elect to do, POC's (portable oxygen concentrators) have really changed people's lives. The much greater selection of activities that can now be practiced, together with increased mobility generally, have had an extremely positive impact on longterm oxygen therapy patients.
It used to be that mobility for COPD patients was severely restricted. This meant being house bound or overly influenced by a hospital or clinic.
With the advent of much more practical and better quality portable machines, patients mobility has increased dramatically and you could now find people on supplemental oxygen doing a lot of things they wouldn't have imagined a few years ago.
This has happened due to the new portable tanks, because of more advanced conserving devices (that regulate the delivery rates) and, possibly the most important reason of all - the introduction of portable oxygen concentrators.
An oxygen concentrator is a machine that extracts oxygen from the surrounding air, it concentrates it and delivers it - right to the patient (in a home concentrator machine it is also used to refill an oxygen cylinder). At sea level and when air pollution isn't an issue, ambient air is composed of approximately 21% oxygen, 88% nitrogen and a reduced amount of various gases. The oxygen concentrator extracts oxygen, concentrates it and delivers it to the individual.
Things You Need To Know:
You need a power source to use, which may be both with rechargeable batteries and a plug in option (including for vehicle).
There is a continuous rumble from the concentrators motor.
You can adjust the flow level in accordance with your prescription.
There are the latest models of with different weights the give allow for your mobility.
Always check your battery durability and as a safety precaution you ought to have a spare and charged battery.
Portable oxygen concentrators arrived on the scene around 2002 and since that time have had an excellent impact in the portable oxygen delivery area.
The major difference between an oxygen concentrator and an oxygen cylinder or tank, is that the concentrator isn't a storage device but a supplier of oxygen. This means that so long as the power source is uninterrupted, oxygen will still be delivered so long as needed. In a tank there will always be the limitation based on the amount of oxygen that is stored, whether liquid or gas.
The brand new designs have both a primary plug in option (to help you plug them in cars, for instance) along with being battery operated. They're smaller, lighter and therefore easier to carry and have a primary and positive effect on peoples mobility.
It seems as if each new model is smaller and contains more durable rechargeable batteries.
An important benefit is they have increased the chance of travel for patients on extra oxygen, and actually one of the most important aspects of that is that by May, 2009, the FAA authorized the utilization of some portable oxygen concentrators up to speed airlines that cross US airspace (this means all arriving and departing flights). This change is of great consequence as flights was a major problem. It really is still, however, a good idea to check with your airline before a flight.
Although living and having to be determined by supplemental oxygen isn't something anyone would willingly elect to do, POC's (portable oxygen concentrators) have really changed people's lives. The much greater selection of activities that can now be practiced, together with increased mobility generally, have had an extremely positive impact on longterm oxygen therapy patients.
Public Last updated: 2024-05-15 02:32:35 AM