Proposition of a Tool to Adjust the Inspired Oxygen Fraction in Anesthesia Devices during Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation in COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on health care services, leading to a breakdown in public and private health systems worldwide. A major challenge was the scarcity of mechanical ventilators, which resulted in the use of anaesthesia devices for this purpose. However, they are quite different from mechanical ventilators used in Intensive Care Units and some adaptations, such as the use of high flow to reduce CO2 rebreathing, were necessary to ensure patient safety. The objective of this study was to present a mathematical formula and develop a tool that can be used to adjust the flow of oxygen and air in flow metres of anaesthesia devices that do not have oxygen analysers or these analysers are not operational. A literature review was conducted using the main health databases and libraries as research sources: PubMed, Virtual Health Library (VHL), SciELO, and Cochrane. The review included studies published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Animal studies were excluded. A total of 11 references were included to support this article.