Galt's Gulch

Not Enough Oxygen

Posted by $ Abaco 4 years, 7 months ago to News
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American hospitals are not designed to provide enough oxygen in every patient room. Oh, the piping is in, but it's sized on the assumption that no more than half of the regular patient rooms will have running ventilators in them. This will be next in your news feed...or, maybe not.

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  • Posted by term2 4 years, 7 months ago
    There is a lot of evidence that putting kung flu patients on ventilators isnt a very good therapy, in that 2/3 of them die anyway after being put through a lot of uncomfortable procedures.
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    • Posted by DrZarkov99 4 years, 7 months ago
      Some UK doctors have proposed using a low cost version of an iron lung instead of ventilators. That would work by reducing the air pressure around a patient's upper torso, drawing air into the lungs instead of forcing it in. There would be no intubation, and the patient could talk and eat.
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      • Posted by term2 4 years, 7 months ago
        Interesting. I am not sure why survival when u get to the point of needing a ventilator for more than a few days Is so low. It might have more to do with severe tissue changes in the lungs due to the virus There’s hyperbaric chamber treatments and ECMO that might help. Even if you survive the immediate ventilator treatments, recovery from them takes months and months

        I think that iron lungs would be a lot more complicated than ventilators and have it’s own side effects
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  • Posted by $ blarman 4 years, 7 months ago
    Fascinating, though makes complete sense now that you have explained it. I often wondered why many hospital wings (like the one a buddy runs in cardiac care) who converted to handle COVID-19 cases were only at half capacity. Maybe they actually realized that they couldn't run at full capacity if the requirement was for 24/7 ventilators for every patient. I'll have to ask him tonight.
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  • Posted by $ 25n56il4 4 years, 7 months ago
    I haven't seen a hospital that doesn't have working oxygen and monitors in every room. Of course, I only use Methodist's Hospitals (that's what my insurance requires).
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    • Posted by $ Abaco 4 years, 7 months ago
      Oh, they've got it. "Working" is the operative word. If a respirator is plugged into the outlet in each room and turned on it usually won't work, because the piping from the source tank of oxygen wasn't sized for each outlet to be flowing to a working respirator at the same time. Why is this? The code minimum that designers have been using was based on only a 50% participation rate. Smaller pipes (copper tubing, to be specific). It's like designing a car as though the accelerator will never get pushed more than half-way down.

      I like the Methodist facilities.
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      • Posted by Dobrien 4 years, 7 months ago
        Thanks for the information. This would never be know by the avg Person , obviously you are familiar with the infrastructure and the capabilities.
        Is this a nationwide issue or do different state have different building codes?
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        • Posted by $ Abaco 4 years, 7 months ago
          The diversity factor is from IAPMO code language, which is universal. Designers design based on code minimums as a way to try to minimize cost to the healthcare providers (smaller copper tubing). Nobody ever really thought there'd be a respirator working in every patient room. Some states us IAPMO. Some use international plumbing code (IPC), some rely on National Fire Protection 99 code, which doesn't address tube sizing. We are dealing in a paradigm that really wasn't expected in western culture (those who uses building codes, as opposed to places like Haiti and the Gold Coast, etc).

          Here's more trivia for you. Those nasal cannula and BPAP methods appear to be less-demanding on the medgas system, but often consume twice as much oxygen. Then, there's the issue of the oxygen evaporators freezing up. I really hope we don't get to any of this...
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          • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 4 years, 7 months ago
            Thank goodness they won't be using many respirators as anticipated. Just this morn, talked to a nurse working at Yale Hospital in CT...asked how they are doing, (we at hospice house some of their non covin patients), She stated: The Place is Empty...very few patients, no covin patients yet and no staff members have had covin either...so where are these 300+ dead covin patients?

            Something rotten in Denmark...or Connecticut!
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  • Posted by $ 25n56il4 4 years, 7 months ago
    Always remember. Hospital personnel are people. My BFF was being prepped for surgery recently and I was looking at her monitor when it went flat. A doctor was talking to her. he didn't notice. I stepped over to a nurse working on a computer and asked if she liked my friend's monitor. She reacted very quickly.
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  • Posted by $ Stormi 4 years, 7 months ago
    what about the healthy people walking around in any manner of masks. Where is their fresh air, oxygen? They admit regualr maskes do let some germs in. So, peopel are so scared by media they go aroung all day in masks, breathing in and out the same air, sucking any virus into their lungs, while feeling they are safe. Tehy are not. The professionals are not prepared not do they admit their lack of real medical knowledge, then throw in the ignorant scientifically challenged meia, and we have a new disaster coming.
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