This is the second in a two-part series on oxygen therapy, a valuable but often misunderstood treatment. I will refer the reader of this article to last week’s discussion on who qualifies for this treatment.
There are a number of barriers that burden a patient needing oxygen therapy. The first barrier is convincing the patient that he really needs to use oxygen to help him or her live longer. No one wants to look like a “sick person” when in social situations. Second, the equipment is heavy and cumbersome, and the tubing poses a risk of tripping and falling.
Third, some of the smaller portable oxygen systems can be expensive and not covered by insurance. Fourth, the portable system may not provide the needed flow rate to allow the patient to spend meaningful time away from home. Lastly, many patients do not feel better on oxygen therapy and will refuse to use it. This last problem is often an unrealistic expectation about what oxygen will do for their pulmonary symptoms.
The one bit of good news I have for oxygen users
is that the amount of time needed to receive survival benefit from oxygen therapy has again been studied. Previous recommendations were for patients to use their therapy 24 hours a day. Recent studies have found that for patients with the need for oxygen therapy using it 15 hours a day was just as effective as using it for 24 hours when it came to survival benefit.
