What is the difference between medical oxygen and natural oxygen?
1. Medical Grade Oxygen
Oxygen and medical grade oxygen are two different things, and it is important to know the difference between the two. Medical oxygen is merely a form of medical oxygen that is used for that reason. Medical air compressors are the sole source of this sort of oxygen. Certain government authorities regulate the use of an improper compressor to create oxygen because of the potential for contamination. Oil-free or oil-less medical compressors are the norms. If a patient needs medical oxygen, they must have a prescription or need life-saving care at a hospital or emergency medical facility.
2. Natural Oxygen
Nature’s oxygen cycle, the movement of oxygen in different forms through the environment. During photosynthesis, algae and terrestrial green plants absorb CO2, where it is transformed into carbohydrates, with oxygen as a byproduct. In nature, oxygen is the most prevalent element. It may be found as a gas and as a component of many other substances. About 21% of the atmosphere’s volume is made up of oxygen, while the remaining 78% is nitrogen and the remaining 1% is various gases.
How is medical grade oxygen made, and what equipment is needed?
Pneumonia and sepsis, anesthesia and surgery, childbirth, and trauma patients all benefit from using oxygen, which is also a necessary treatment. However, there is a significant disparity in the availability of medical oxygen among nations. Before the pandemic, only about one-fifth of patients in low- and middle-income countries who needed it had it.
There are three main ways medical grade oxygen is made:
Cryogenic plants
Liquid oxygen is produced at these industrial facilities by freezing air to extract oxygen from nitrogen. As a result, large tankers are used to transport and store liquid oxygen outside of hospitals. If required, it is converted back to gas and sent straight to a patient’s bedside. There is a cost charged by large gas firms for the delivery of oxygen, the filling of tankers, and the maintenance of cryogenic units.
PSA plants
PSA plants extract nitrogen and oxygen from the surrounding air, resulting in gaseous nitrogen and oxygen production. It is common for governments or individual hospitals in countries like Uganda and Ethiopia to invest in PSA plants, which are placed near hospitals and produce gas that may be delivered directly to patients or used to refill cylinders.
Oxygen concentrators
These suitcase-sized devices turn the air we breathe into usable oxygen. Portable oxygen concentrators often serve patients in remote locations where roads are too poor to carry cylinders or in clinics where oxygen is seldom required.
What type of equipment is available?
In the present market, there are three options for oxygen systems:
- Systems that use compressed gas
- Oxygen generators that may be taken on the go (POCs)
- Systems that use liquid oxygen
How to choose the oxygen equipment?
You, your doctor, and your oxygen supplier should all work together to find the ideal medical Grade oxygen system for you based on your lifestyle and activities, as well as the quantity of oxygen you need. The objective is to continue doing your normal activities using oxygen equipment that you can and will wear.
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