Portable oxygen machines and specially portable oxygen concentrators have changed the way many people, who will need to have continuous or semi continuous oxygen therapy, are actually living.
It was previously 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 a lot more practical and better quality portable machines, patients mobility has increased dramatically and you may now find people on supplemental oxygen doing many things they wouldn't have imagined a few years ago.
This has happened due to 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 encompassing air, it concentrates it and then delivers it - right to the patient (in a house concentrator machine it is also used to refill an oxygen cylinder). At sea level and when air pollution isn't a concern, ambient air comprises approximately 21% oxygen, 88% nitrogen and a smaller amount of various gases. The oxygen concentrator extracts oxygen, concentrates it and delivers it to the individual.
Things You Need To Know:
You will need a power source to operate, which can be both with rechargeable batteries and a plug in option (including for vehicle).
There is a continuous rumble from the concentrators motor.
It is possible to adjust the flow level in accordance with your prescription.
There are different models with differing weights the give enable your mobility.
Check Take a look at the site here and as a safety precaution you ought to have an extra and charged battery.
Portable oxygen concentrators arrived around 2002 and since that time have had a great 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 power source is uninterrupted, oxygen will continue to be delivered so long as needed. In a tank there will always be the limitation in line with the amount of oxygen that's stored, whether liquid or gas.
The new designs have both a primary plug in option (in order to plug them in cars, for instance) along with being battery operated. They are smaller, lighter and therefore easier to carry and also have a primary and positive influence on peoples mobility.
It seems as though each new model is smaller and has more durable rechargeable batteries.
A significant benefit is that they have increased the possibility 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 use 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 is still, however, a good idea to check with your airline before a flight.
Although living and having to depend on supplemental oxygen is not something anyone would willingly choose to do, POC's ( portable oxygen concentrator s) have really changed people's lives. The much greater selection of activities that may now be practiced, together with increased mobility generally, have had a very positive impact on long term oxygen therapy patients.