Home Equipment

Speaker 1: The material contained in this video presentation provides general information on the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This information is for reference purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. For specific information and recommendation based on your health condition, please consult your medical provider.

Michael MacDona...: Hello, I'm Michael MacDonald, a registered respiratory therapist, and we are going to talk about home equipment that can help with your breathing. Home equipment. This can be delivered with oxygen, which can be a portable oxygen concentrator, an oxygen tank, and then oxygen can also be delivered by a nasal cannula, and I'm also going to go over how to keep it clean. Medication nebulizers. I will go over the assembly, use. Airway clearance devices. These help to maintain a more productive cough so that you can keep your airways clear, and I'm going to go over how you use them as well as keeping them clean.

Sleep management. These have become widely popular due to many patients being diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. CPAP systems or constant positive airway pressure helps to keep those airways open so that the patient can have a much higher quality of sleep. Oxygen. So, who would need supplemental oxygen? Some patients who do have difficulty maintaining normal levels of oxygen in their blood, such as COPD and other pulmonary or cardiac conditions, they may be prescribed by their physician.

Supplemental oxygen. This can be delivered in a couple of ways. For one, a home oxygen concentrator. A concentrator filters out the various gases that are in air so that it can deliver a higher quality and percent of oxygen to the patient. In order for the concentrator to operate at its best, there are a few things to always remember. The concentrator needs to be located in an area that does not have any obstructions near it, such as being enclosed inside of a closet or any other small enclosed area. The concentrator should be in an area that has sufficient airflow. Another important thing to remember with the concentrator is that it always needs to have uninterrupted electricity so that it can always provide this oxygen to the patient. So, there should be a plan for a backup in case that does occurm such as during an electrical storm, hurricane, events like that.

So, with your home care company, you'll just need to make arrangements to have enough oxygen tanks as your backup system, but here's a really good point. Contact your utility company and let them know that you are on home oxygen. You will be placed on a priority list to have your electricity restored if it ever is lost during any type of storm, hurricane, et cetera. Oxygen tanks. These come in a variety of sizes, but they can provide a high quality a oxygen. There is a gauge, a pressure gauge that I'm going to go over in more detail that allows you to determine how much oxygen or pressure is in your tank, so, you know, whether it is getting close to being empty. Never store your oxygen tanks in any areas that have high temperatures, such as near open flame in a garage or a shed that is outside.

Tanks should be stored in an area pretty much like the concentrator, in a large, well-ventilated area. The nasal cannula, and that is some tubing that you will wear that connects on your nose and tubing connects to the concentrator or the tank, that allows you to receive the oxygen so that it helps with your shortness of breath. Just always remember, and I will go over those details, never to over-tighten the tubing around your ears, especially as those can cause over time some skin breakdown issues. Putting your nasal canula on is quite simple. Just make sure that the shape of the nasal canula goes according to your nose, both going in the nares, wrapping the tubing around your ears, and then using the adjuster to secure it.

Just make sure you do not over-tighten this as it can exhibit a lot of pressure on your ears, which can over time lead to some skin breakdown. Medication nebulizers. These are devices that take a liquid medication and make it into a very fine mist so that when you breathe it in your airways can absorb that medication and allow you to breathe easier. The typical components of the nebulizer. The mouthpiece, or a mask, depending upon if you're able to breathe in and out with the mouthpiece, the medication cup, that's going to contain the medication to help with your breathing, and then there is typically some corrugated tubing that acts as a medication reservoir.

There is also tubing that will connect from the nebulizer itself to the compressor that your home care company has supplied. Assembling your medication nebulizer. We have your medication cup that will contain the breathing medication that you'll administer to it, a plastic T that will connect to the medication cup, a mouthpiece that you will use to breathe in and out through your mouth to breathe the medication into your airways. But if you were unable to hold a mouthpiece in your mouth, you can also adapt this to have a mask so that, that fits over your face, so you can breathe in and out the medication.

Then, we have the tubing, the corrugated tubing that acts as the medication reservoir. The connecting tubing that comes with your medication, nebulizer connects on the bottom of the medication cup. The other end of the tubing will connect to the small compressor that your home care company provided you. Airway clearance devices, or also known as flutter valves. What are airway clearance devices used for? A lot of times for patients who may have difficulty clearing the secretions from their airways, a physician may prescribed an airway clearance device. You may also hear these referred to as flutter valves.

An airway clearance device. When a patient takes a deep breath in and blows very hard through it the airway clearance device creates a very strong vibration effect that echoes into the patient's airways and truly is vibrating the patient's airways, loosening those secretions up, and allows the patient to cough up the secretions much easier than without that device. Your airway clearance device may look like this. There are a variety of brands. For dissembling and cleaning for this brand, take off the mouthpiece, place it aside.

This piece will then also be set aside, and then on the internal, there is another piece. All of this will then be cleaned in a container, typically of a mixture of vinegar and water. You can also use soap and water, but no matter what, always allow it to air dry before you use it again. Sleep management, which can involve CPAP devices. What is CPAP used for? Well, for one, it stands for constant positive airway pressure. Some patients may have issues during their sleep to where their airway may close down, causing them to stop breathing during their sleep, and this is only periodically that they stop breathing. But, this breathing cessation disrupts the entire breathing pattern and quality of the patient while they are sleeping.

CPAP provides positive pressure to the patient's airways, and it involves wearing a variety of style masks that may cover the nose or the nose and mouth. It just all depends upon the patient need, but this pressure keeps those airways open, preventing them from closing down, and that provides the patient a much higher quality of sleep, so that when they are awake, they're far more awake, alert and not so tired throughout the day like they used to be when they had the sleep apnea issues. I have an example of a CPAP mask, this one fitting over the nose and mouth, although there are some masks that just fit over the nose. The mask itself, again, fitting over your nose and mouth, the heads straps wrapping around your head and the securing device, connecting to the mask on both sides. With all of the equipment that I have covered, always remember to wash your hands before and after using the equipment, and then also follow the manufacturer recommendation for cleaning the equipment itself. Thank you.