RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 A Pilot Study Comparing Two Oxygen Delivery Methods for Patients' Comfort and Administration of Oxygen JF Respiratory Care FD American Association for Respiratory Care SP respcare.02937 DO 10.4187/respcare.02937 A1 Gil Jun Lee A1 Sei Won Lee A1 Yeon-Mok Oh A1 Jae Seung Lee A1 Sang-Do Lee A1 Choongsoo S. Shin A1 Tae Soo Lee YR 2013 UL http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/12/24/respcare.02937.abstract AB Background: The traditional oxygen delivery methods for oxygen therapy are continuous flow oxygen (CFO) and demand oxygen delivery (DOD); however, wastage of oxygen is considerable in CFO, while DOD is uncomfortable for patients. Synchronized DOD (SDOD), which was designed to overcome the drawbacks of both CFO and DOD, supplies oxygen according to the patient's breathing pattern and the desired oxygen-saving. This study was conducted to examine the overall performance of SDOD in terms of oxygen saturation (SpO2), patients' comfort, and oxygen saving ratio (SR). Methods: Study subjects were patients who required oxygen for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or pneumonia. Patients received oxygen through nasal prongs by CFO and SDOD for 30 minutes each. SpO2 was measured every 10 minutes by pulse oximetry, and subjects recorded their level of comfort after 30 minutes. The flow rate of discharged oxygen was recorded to calculate SR. Results: Ten patients (median age, 68 years; range, 56–86 years) were enrolled. The SpO2 of patients during SDOD (97±2%) was similar to that during CFO (96±3%) with no statistically significant difference (p=0.53). Patients reported SDOD to be more comfortable than CFO. Comfort score of subjects treated with SDOD was 7.05±2.07 (0: very uncomfortable, 10: very comfortable); this was significantly higher (p=0.02) than the comfort score (5.20±1.83) of subjects treated with CFO. The inputted SRs set by clinicians were very similar to calculated SRs. Conclusion: SDOD appears to be more suitable for oxygen therapy than CFO when considering SpO2, patients' comfort, and SR.