Portable oxygen machines and specially portable oxygen concentrators have changed just how many people, who will need to have continuous or semi continuous oxygen therapy, are actually living.
It used to be that mobility for COPD patients was severely restricted. This meant being house bound or overly dependent on a hospital or clinic.
With the advent of much more practical and better quality portable machines, patients mobility has increased dramatically and you can now find people on supplemental oxygen doing a lot of things they wouldn't have imagined only a few years ago.
This has happened because of the new portable tanks, because of more complex conserving devices (that regulate the delivery rates) and, perhaps the most important reason of most - the introduction of portable oxygen concentrators.
An oxygen concentrator is really 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 can also be used to refill an oxygen cylinder). At sea level and if air pollution is not an issue, ambient air is composed of approximately 21% oxygen, 88% nitrogen and a smaller amount of various gases. The oxygen concentrator extracts oxygen, concentrates it and delivers it to the patient.
Things You Need To Know:
You will need a power source to operate, that can be both with rechargeable batteries and a plug in option (including for vehicle).
You will find 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 differing weights the give allow for your mobility.
Always check your battery durability so when a safety precaution you ought to have an extra and charged battery.
Portable oxygen concentrators arrived 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. Which means that so long as the energy source is uninterrupted, oxygen will continue to be delivered for as long as needed. In a tank there will 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 (so you can plug them in cars, for example) together with being battery operated. They are smaller, lighter and therefore easier to carry and have a primary and positive influence on peoples mobility.
It seems as though each new model is smaller and contains more durable rechargeable batteries.
A significant benefit is they have increased the chance of travel for patients on extra oxygen, and in fact one of the most important aspects of that is that as of May, 2009, the FAA authorized using some portable oxygen concentrators up to speed airlines that cross US airspace (this implies all arriving and departing flights). This change is of great consequence as air travel was a major problem. It really is still, however, smart to check with your airline before a flight.
Although living and having to depend on supplemental oxygen is not 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 may now be practiced, together with increased mobility in general, have had a very positive impact on longterm oxygen therapy patients.