Introduction
In times of sickness or problem in breathing, different oxygen giving systems and hospital wards are very important to give care and treatment to patients. Understanding the differences between these systems and facilities is needed to make right decisions and ensure best possible care. This guide will explain the various oxygen giving methods, their use, and the different hospital wards where patients get treatment.
Table of Contents
Why We Need Oxygen Cylinders
Do you understand why we need oxygen cylinders despite having so much oxygen in the air? What is a nebulizer, oxygen concentrator, oxygen cylinder, liquid mechanical oxygen or a ventilator? Why do we need all these? What is the difference between them?
See, in our air, 98%, 78% is nitrogen, which has no role in our breathing. The oxygen is only 21%. So, 21% of the air we breathe goes into it and 1% is other gases. So, out of this 21%, the lungs have to separate the nitrogen and the rest of the gases. But when our lungs get damaged due to diseases, then it can’t do all this work. So, what we need is that it gives total pure oxygen and that oxygen has to be filtered out.
Although, the lungs take only 4% of the total oxygen. The 21% oxygen that is taken, only 4% of it can be used. But here, the lungs have to work more. First of all, do nitrogen and separate gases. Then take out 4% of it. That’s why the patient is given 99% pure oxygen. From which his body absorbs around 4% of the oxygen.
Nebulizer
Anebulizer is such a machine. That small machine sucks oxygen from the air and sends this sucked oxygen to the lungs. It pulls 85-95% pure oxygen. This is a small machine called nebulizer. It is also useful to make steam, so often it is used by those patients whose medicines have to be made to the lungs. Often it is used by asthma patients, but it is dangerous to use it in corona.
Some people are saying that we will not put medicine in it. When you put medicine in it, then what does this nebulizer do? It makes that medicine steam and leaves it in your lungs with its steam. So with which your medicine also goes very well to the lungs. But it was right to use it in asthma and asthma. But it is not right to use it on corona patients because it does not have as much oxygen as a corona patient needs.
Oxygen Concentrator
Now, what is an oxygen concentrator? It is a small device that sucks oxygen from the air. It gives us oxygen by removing dust, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. This is a device. It comes in many shapes. Some are portable, some are small and some are big.
These have 90-95% pure oxygen. They can provide us with more oxygen than a nebulizer. And they can provide us with oxygen in 24 hours. Because they are run by electricity or battery supply. It never runs out of oxygen like an oxygen cylinder. If it has a power supply, it will continue to produce oxygen. Oxymeter is installed in it.
The flow of oxygen can also be controlled in it. It cannot be used for serious patients. It is used only for mild or moderate level patients. It cannot be used seriously, so it is not kept in ICU. Why is it not kept? The oxygen pressure of the oxygen concentrator is very low. It gives only 5 to 10 liters of oxygen in a minute. It can flow 5 to 10 liters of oxygen in a minute.
But a seriously ill patient who is in ICU, who is in a very dangerous situation, he needs 40 to 50 liters of oxygen who lives in ICU. It can give only 5 to 10 liters of oxygen every minute at low pressure. That’s why we don’t use it in the ICU. But in the current situation of Corona, high-pressure oxygen is being given to everyone due to the lack of oxygen concentrators.
It is very light, so it is very easy to transport it. But it is very expensive. It comes in the range of 30,000 to 50,000. They don’t have to be refilled like oxygen cylinders. They are never finished. If there is an electric or a battery, it will continue to work. This oxygen concentrator works on PSA technology.
PSA means Pressure Swim Absorption Technology. Gas is sucked from the air and nitrogen and other gases are left in it and oxygen is concentrated. That’s why it is called an oxygen concentrator. It is in small quantities. It is applied to big plants. When a big plant is applied to the same concentrator, then we call it a PSA plant.
This plant has been applied to many hospitals. Even the announcement made by Mr. Modi about this plant, he said that in the PM Care Fund, first 162, now around 551, means around 550, the big form of the oxygen concentrator, which we call PSA, This technology has been talked about outside every hospital. Look, oxygen is still not reaching the country at the time. Some holes have been removed, but not so far yet.
If the government wants it, it can improve even more. Look, all the auto industries, the cars that run on the road, their tyres are filled with nitrogen gas and to make them, there is also a nitrogen generator, which does a very simple job. It also works on PSA technology. What does it do? It sucks the air and puts a compressor.
After the compressor, it separates it from all the particles and leaves the oxygen gas and collects the nitrogen gas at one place. And that nitrogen gas is filled in the tires of the vehicles. This has a simple technology, a filter is installed. When we pass oxygen and nitrogen through that filter, it releases oxygen into the air and catches the nitrogen. So that the nitrogen gas is collected near the generator and that nitrogen gas is kept in a big tank.
When you go to get your vehicles filled, whether it’s a motorcycle or a four-wheeler, you’ll see this type of machine. It fills nitrogen in your tyre. Where there’s a lot of need for this nitrogen, they use this type of thing. Chips packets, namkeen packets, or whatever packaging or stuff is packed, it’s filled with air. That’s nitrogen gas.
So this nitrogen gas can be made in a very simple way. But if the government wants, they can change its filter and make oxygen out of it. Because the filter that’s used here, that filter leaves oxygen gas in the air and keeps nitrogen. If we change its filter and reverse it so that it leaves nitrogen and keeps oxygen, then all the automobiles industries or the companies that make chips and packets, all of them have nitrogen gas plants.
With those gas plants, we can easily generate oxygen. And making this filter is not a big deal. If the government wants, it can be made in 48 hours and by giving NOC, it can be taken into immediate effect. And in our country, wherever there is a nitrogen plant or the service center of vehicles, this filter can be changed there.
Liquid Oxygen/Oxygen Cylinders
After nebulizer and oxygen concentrator, now we understand liquid oxygen. Liquid oxygen is also called liquid medical oxygen, which you know as oxygen cylinder. It is in liquid form. When you open its regulator, it takes the form of gas. Just like the cylinder that makes food in your house, when it is passing through the pipe, you will see that it goes in liquid form.
That’s why it is called liquified petroleum gas, LPG. Similarly, it is known as LMO, Liquid Medical Oxygen. It has to be kept at a very cold temperature, so it is called a Cryonic Oxygen Tanker. It is made at a very low temperature. Where oxygen is made with this technology, it is a very big technology, it is very complicated.
Because its temperature has to be kept at minus 180 degrees. But by keeping it like this, we can keep 80 times more oxygen in the same vessel. If we put oxygen in a bottle, If we keep it in the form of gas and in the same bottle, if we keep it in the form of liquid, then we can store 80 times more oxygen. In a lot more quantity, it can be stored more than this.
So oxygen is stored in such places. It is taken from there by this cryonic tanker and there is a tanker of the hospital. It is filled in that tank and the supply remains from that tank. From where the oxygen containers are filled in the oxygen cylinder. And it is sent to other places as per the need. Different types of tanks have different capacities.
Now you will say that the patient is serious, his capacity is 50 liters per minute. So how much capacity does it have? So it has different capacity according to its size. It also comes with a capacity of about 4000 liters. If you need 50 liters per minute, then it has a capacity of 4000 to 5000 liters. So it is taken to different places at different capacities.
What is the speciality of this liquid oxygen? 99% pure oxygen is found in it and it is sent with a lot of pressure. Due to the pressure, the amount of oxygen in it remains high. It can give 40 to 50 liters of oxygen per minute.
Because of this, we use it for serious patients who enter the ICU. But their problem is that you cannot supply them for 24 hours. As soon as the tanker is empty, they stop supplying and they have to refill it. But the plus point is that they don’t need any kind of power. They don’t need electric or battery supply. This is being used in most hospitals. This is the traditional use. This is also kept in ambulances. This leaves the oxygen with pressure and the patient has to breathe on his own.
The patient breathes on his own. But many times it happens that the patient is unable to breathe, his lungs are damaged so much that they are not able to work. Sometimes, like the patients of corona, or if there is an accident or a major operation in which the brain has to give anesthesia, then when the lungs are not able to work, especially now that corona is going on, then when the lungs are not working, then in that situation we have to cover the oxygen from outside.
What was here, this oxygen cylinder used to release oxygen from here and these oxygen pipes used to come here and the oxygen used to come near the mouth. People used to breathe on their own, but when the lungs get damaged, then our ventilator is used in that condition.
Ventilator
It is called mechanical ventilator. This is a machine, it shows the pulse rate, oxygen level, etc. It has pressure, it has two valves inside it. What does it do? It throws oxygen with pressure and then brings it back. It does not leave oxygen up to the mouth, it carries it to the lungs. So, don’t forget that this is up to the mouth.
You have to push this machine inside the ventilator. This is the last position of the doctor to save the patient’s life. Now, this ventilator is to be worn. It is very challenging to put it on yourself. Because the patient is put on only when he is in a critical condition. He has to open his mouth. So, you can see this iron rod.
This is a stainless steel rod. There is a hole in between this rod. So, what does the doctor do in this? First, he puts this rod in the patient’s mouth like this. If you see this rod, it is in U-shape. In this way, the rod is inserted into it and the rod is lifted up. When this rod is lifted up, then it sees this tube.
There is a hole behind this rod. From that hole, it puts the oxygen pipe inside. If you see here, then this rod has been taken from inside this hole. And it has been taken to the lungs. It is dropped in between both the lungs. Now pay attention, if you see a clear image here, then this is the handle with which it has been lifted here.
It is an empty space from there, this pipe is brought inside, this pipe is left here. Then this iron one is taken out. It was only to give mechanical support or to lift the jaw. Otherwise, the throat rots. Sometimes it is not available, so the doctor has to lift it from here. It is a very difficult work.
After that, what is another challenging work? The oxygen pipe that we have taken here, we call the mouth of this pipe a cuff. It should be in the middle. This is trachea. In the biology class, you were taught to breathe. This trachea is divided into two parts, the bronchi and then the bronchiolus and then the alveoli. So we have to keep this cuff, so that the oxygen goes in both the lungs equally.
Understanding Hospital Wards
You must have heard of OPD, emergency or ICU ward. What is OPD? Its full form is the outer patient department. Like this is the OPD of EMS Patna.
In this, any external patient who is capable of walking, who has a disease, first comes to the OPD. The department is OPD. After this, the OPD department asks where the counter is. So, after going to the counter, he gets his name and ID. Here he gets the ID where he is told who is the doctor and in which room he will be seen.
So, the room number is told to the doctor then you go to the doctor. When you go to the doctor after OPD and after getting the ID, when you see the doctor, the doctor writes you a medicine. Then he calls you to come the next day or sometimes the doctor sees that his health is very bad. He needs an operation or something.
So, he can call you for an operation. It is possible that they take admission for the same day of operation. It doesn’t happen often, they call you for admission some other day. Then they admit you and take you to the operation theatre, which is called OT in short. So they take you to the operation theatre and do your operation.
After the operation, you don’t rest in the operation theatre. Your relative will not come and feed you, he will keep you somewhere. So if you are a normal patient, you are shifted to the ward like this. You are taken to the ward in a line like this. And if you are a rich man, you are given a room. And if you are normal, you are kept in a ward.
In this ward, the doctor sometimes comes for 3-4 hours. Because those who are not serious patients, they are taken to the OPD for normal people. So those who have an operation, they go to the same operation theatre and ward and those who do not have to have an operation, have to show normal, If you want to show your brain or eyes, if you don’t have an operation, then go to the OPT, get a letter from the doctor.
When you are in ICU, there are doctors and nurses at any time. But if you are in OPD ward, there are no doctors and nurses at any time. Because normal patients are not taken seriously. But if you are in ICU, there are 24 hours intensive care unit. This is too much. If you get sick, let’s say there is an accident or something happens.
If you get sick suddenly, doctors come to see you. And if the doctor thinks that there is an accident or something like that, he will have to do his operation. Then you are taken to the operation theater immediately after getting up from this ICU. And there the operation is done. First, you were serious, you were in an emergency. The operation was done on that.
The other one was torn. Now you need more. So you have the ICU ward. This is a very VIP arrangement. Here all the machines are available for you. It’s not like you have to measure your fever in the thermometer, then you will get it from someone else. Everything will be personal for you. All your machines are available there. So this is admitted to the ICU ward. When you start feeling better, you are taken to the ICU ward and sent to the general ward, which is kept for normal patients. After this, you are sent home.
I hope you have understood all these things. But we pray to God that none of you will have the opportunity to see all these things.
There are so many patients that doctors are not able to take care of them
Conclusion
Having oxygen giving systems and proper hospital wards is very important for well-being and recovery of patients. From nebulizers and oxygen concentrators for mild cases to liquid oxygen cylinders and ventilators for severe conditions, these systems provide the required support to maintain right oxygen levels in body.
Also, the arrangement of hospital facilities like OPD, operation theaters and ICUs plays a big role in giving efficient patient care and managing different levels of medical emergencies properly.
It is good to remember that preventing sickness is always better than treating it later. We should try our best to remain healthy and avoid situations that may require use of these systems and facilities.
However, in times when needed, understanding the various options available can help make right decisions and ensure best possible care for ourselves and our loved ones.