Oxygen Therapy

Oxygen therapy is the administration of oxygen as a medical intervection, which can be used for a variety of purposes in both chronic & acute patient care. Oxygen is essential for cell metabolism and in turn, tissue oxygenation is essential for all normal physiological functions. Supplementary oxygen is commonly used for patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In a pre-hospital environment, oxygen is indicated for use in resuscitation, major trauma, shock, major haemorrhage, acute convulsion, hypothermia and hypoxemia. Oxygen flow should be moderate to achieve target oxygen saturation levels based in pulse oximetry (target of 94-98% in most patients, or 88-92%in COPD patients)