Campbell E J, Baker M D, Crites-Silver P
Respiratory Care Services Department, Jewish Hospital at Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis 63110.
Chest. 1988 Feb;93(2):289-93. doi: 10.1378/chest.93.2.289.
Humification of oxygen prior to administration by nasal cannula is an expensive practice which has been justified on the basis that it improves the comfort of patients receiving supplemental oxygen therapy. Routine humidification of low-flow oxygen (less than or equal to 4 L/min) delivered by nasal cannula has recently been challenged based on theoretic grounds and on the results of a clinical study. Nevertheless, we found, in a telephone survey of medium-sized American hospitals, that routine humidification of nasal cannula oxygen remains a common practice. To further evaluate the necessity of oxygen humidification, we prospectively evaluated, on a daily basis, the subjective complaints of consecutive patients in our institution who were ordered to receive nasal oxygen at relatively high flow rates (5 L/min). Of the 185 patients evaluated over a period of three wintertime months, 99 received humidified oxygen and 86 received dry oxygen. Complaints, especially dry nose and dry throat (42.9 percent and 43.9 percent of the daily interviews, respectively) were common in both groups, but the symptoms were relatively mild and did not increase significantly when oxygen was administered without prior humidification. We conclude that routine humidification of oxygen for administration by nasal cannula is not justifiable, and that cessation of this practice would result in significant reductions in both time and material costs in respiratory care.
在通过鼻导管给药前对氧气进行湿化是一种昂贵的做法，其依据是它能提高接受补充氧气治疗患者的舒适度。最近，基于理论依据和一项临床研究结果，对通过鼻导管输送的低流量氧气（小于或等于4升/分钟）进行常规湿化受到了质疑。然而，我们在美国中型医院的一项电话调查中发现，对鼻导管氧气进行常规湿化仍是一种常见做法。为了进一步评估氧气湿化的必要性，我们对本院每天被医嘱以相对高流量（5升/分钟）接受鼻导管吸氧的连续患者的主观诉求进行了前瞻性评估。在三个冬季月份里评估的185例患者中，99例接受了湿化氧气，86例接受了干燥氧气。两组患者中常见的诉求，尤其是鼻干和咽干（分别占每日访谈的42.9%和43.9%），但症状相对较轻，在未预先湿化氧气的情况下给药时症状也未显著增加。我们得出结论，对通过鼻导管给药的氧气进行常规湿化是不合理的，停止这种做法将导致呼吸护理的时间和材料成本大幅降低。
