Critical Care Nursing Commons^™

Heated High Flow Oxygen Therapy Management Of Respiratory, Swallowing/Dysphagia And Nutrition Needs, Jenelle Overgaard

Nursing Posters

Problem

• Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 pose challenges for oxygenation. Often requiring heated high flow oxygen therapy (HHFOT) for days to weeks, with literflow commonly over 40 L/min with maximum of 60 L/min.
• There is minimal research on aspiration risk at higher literflow, therefore practice included decreasing liter flow to 20 L/min for oral intake was standard.
• During oral intake, with literflow decreased to 20 L/min, patients' oxygen saturations would quickly trend down.
• Alarms indicating low saturation would create anxiety, cause patients to eat faster potentially increasing risk for aspiration.

Solution

• For adult inpatients meeting criteria, increase maximum literflow allowed during …