As a result of both dwindling oxygen supplies and the number of available hospital beds, more health systems have turned to oxygen in the home to help patients with COVID-19, according to a news report for Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization.
Last spring, RWJ Barnabas Health in Orange, NJ, began sending patients with breathing difficulties home with an oxygen concentrator, a pulse oximeter and a virtual nurse to monitor their condition through telemedicine. Linda Shihabuddin, M.D., chief medical officer of RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey, told Direct Relief that the lessons of traditional medicine may no longer hold: “What we learned with COVID is intubation may not always be the answer,” Shihabuddin said.
At AltaMed Health Services in Los Angeles, a similar program is helping patients get home sooner. AltaMed is working with its local hospital to transition patients out of intensive care and into their homes. For those without a caretaker at home, the health center is sending in a provider to routinely check their pulse oximeter and, if they have a chronic condition, make sure their medications are stocked.
The article noted that in-home oxygen care is particularly helpful for those populations who are afraid of going to the hospital because of their immigration status or fear of incurring large hospital bills.
