Administering Nasal Oxygen with a Humidifier

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hello,

I had a quick question for the folks around here and I was wondering if someone had an answer.

How safe is it to administer nasal oxygen with a humidifier? Or a wolf bottle?

Thanks

-smita

How safe? Hmmm. I don't know what you mean. The standard practice is to use a bubble humidifier with a nasal cannula for flow rates of 4 L/min or greater. This is to try to prevent nasal mucosal drying.

Should be very safe for the most part. Infection is a concern with the bubble devices; however, it is far less a concern compared to a large volume nebulizer. In fact, newer standards are even stating humidification with flows of 2 LPM or more.

The question posed is rather nebulous. Do you have specific concerns with oxygen humidification or humidification systems?

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