using a jet nebulizer without the compressor?

[ketap]

hi..i have been following this forum for a while and i think now i need to ask..

in my place, we commonly do not have electricity for whole day..so ,can we use the jet nebulizer without the compressor?(we don't have the rechargeable compressor)..so,one day, one of my nurses somehow had an idea to just attached the nebulizer with the oxygen tubing and attached it to the oxygen source at maybe 10 to 12 L/mnt....and it seemed that it worked quiet well....so ,do you think it is acceptable to do that? i am curious, did the oxygen flow really give enough pressure (like a compressor) to the nebulizer ?
sorry if this question may sound stupid...but i have never really saw thing like it and can't find any literature that describes it...

please help me...thank you

best regards,Ketap

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[Hernandez]

Depends on which nebulizer reservoir you're using it overwhelming yes, oxygen is fine. compressors are just pushing a flow of air to nebulize the medication.

 

[Doctor Bob]

in my place, we commonly do not have electricity for whole day..so

I'm more interested in this part.
Where is your clinic/hospital? I'm guessing non-US?

Anyways...
As Hernandez said, yes it's fine. We use oxygen for a lot of our jetnebs (but a lot of our people need supplemental O2 as well). It's important to keep the flow rate above 7-9L. You'll get mist around 4L, but the particle size is too big for it to be really useful. Higher gas flow = smaller particles... to a point.

 

[ketap]

hi,Hernandez and doctor Bob: thanks for those replies.. these will be very useful for my practice..
Hernandez: we use a nebulizer that looks like the picture below...i believe it is an unvented nebulizer..?


Doctor Bob: oh yes,i am not in US..i am in Asia..indonesia to be precise, but not in our capital city,jakarta but rather in its rural area...we often have sudden electricity off down here ..

if u don't mind i want to ask again..is there any limit regarding of how much flow is allowed? i mean, one of my nurse usually sets 12 L/min here but the other nurse for unclear reasons occasionally set to 15L/min...is there any big difference between the 12l/min than 15 L/min?

i do understand that higher flow may give us smaller particles,hence reaching our alveoli better, but i just want to know how much is usually enough and how much is unnecessary ?
of course, from your experience..

thank you so much..
best regards,

Ketap

 

[Doctor Bob]

we use a nebulizer that looks like the picture below...i believe it is an unvented nebulizer..?

Yep, you can flow O2 through that to get the same effect as having a compressor. 9L is all you need to get the appropriate particle size.

Doctor Bob: oh yes,i am not in US..i am in Asia..indonesia to be precise, but not in our capital city,jakarta but rather in its rural area...we often have sudden electricity off down here ..

Makes sense. Yea, the downside to using O2 to run your nebs is that at the necessary flow rates, it'll empty a tank pretty quick as well. But you do what you can within your operational constraints.
Good luck

 

[ketap]

thx,Doctor Bob for sharing and replying..i really appreciate it..best wishes for u too and a happy blessed new year..best regards, ketap