OXYGEN CONCENTRATION DURING PATIENT TRANSPORTATION IN THE AMBULANCE OF THE EMS

Abstract

European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2010 and Advanced Life Support Provider Course teaches that the open oxygen supply must be removed from the patient during defibrillation to the distance of minimum of 1 meter. Scientific articles describe few incidents of fire during defibrillation in oxygen – enriched atmospheres. It was performed a series of measurement of the oxygen concentration in the ambulance vehicle of 10 cubic meters. The measurements were made in parked vehicle. Patient was seated on the stretchers and oxygen was applied with oxygen mask on high flow (15 l per minute). The oxygen concentration was measured on different places in the ambulance car – the patient’s face, on the chest, on the wall in front of the car, on the wall in the rear and on the celling. We measured temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity together with oxygen concentration. The result of our study showed that the oxygen concentration has risen from 20.9 % at all locations of the ambulance. In certain locations the concentration has increased at least to 30 %. It has prepared recommendations for defibrillation during oxygen administration according to the literature and our study.