Do you have an MD or RN (or at least and EMT) that can monitor people’s conditions while getting oxygen? And are you planning on keeping the person properly isolated?
This isn’t a question that can really be answered, because access to resources like RNs and places to isolate people is very local but the top-level post is about the effectiveness of oxygen concentrators in general.
That said, the Bay Area rationality community, at least, does have these things.
″ access to resources like RNs and places to isolate people is very local ”
...so it seems like a useful question to answer when individuals are evaluating whether this makes sense. So I pointed out the issue. I didn’t say this is a bad idea.
Depends on the level of emergency. I have a mild case of asthma and if I catch it at a time the medical system is overwhelmed I think I would choose this. Measuring blood oxygen levels is relatively easy: I already got a 20€ blood oxymeter. If it goes up it is enough oxygen?
You can overdose on O2 as well, so you need to be careful. And if you are sick enough to need oxygen, especially if you need it while sleeping or are otherwise too sick to reliably monitor yourself, you need someone else there monitoring you.
Unless you’re underwater or in a hyperbaric chamber, oxygen toxicity isn’t really a big concern, and a cheap oxygen concentrator like the one described above can’t get you close to where problems start. Even if you had a better oxygen concentrator, it doesn’t take any fancy training to add oxygen until 92% saturation or whatever.
Do you have an MD or RN (or at least and EMT) that can monitor people’s conditions while getting oxygen? And are you planning on keeping the person properly isolated?
This isn’t a question that can really be answered, because access to resources like RNs and places to isolate people is very local but the top-level post is about the effectiveness of oxygen concentrators in general.
That said, the Bay Area rationality community, at least, does have these things.
″ access to resources like RNs and places to isolate people is very local ”
...so it seems like a useful question to answer when individuals are evaluating whether this makes sense. So I pointed out the issue. I didn’t say this is a bad idea.
Depends on the level of emergency. I have a mild case of asthma and if I catch it at a time the medical system is overwhelmed I think I would choose this. Measuring blood oxygen levels is relatively easy: I already got a 20€ blood oxymeter. If it goes up it is enough oxygen?
You can overdose on O2 as well, so you need to be careful. And if you are sick enough to need oxygen, especially if you need it while sleeping or are otherwise too sick to reliably monitor yourself, you need someone else there monitoring you.
Unless you’re underwater or in a hyperbaric chamber, oxygen toxicity isn’t really a big concern, and a cheap oxygen concentrator like the one described above can’t get you close to where problems start. Even if you had a better oxygen concentrator, it doesn’t take any fancy training to add oxygen until 92% saturation or whatever.
Yes, a unit that can only do 5L/minute at 30% probably isn’t dangerous—but I’d still ask a doctor what treatment protocol to use and how to monitor.
Agree. This is definitely not intended as a replacement for proper care.