Improving Oxygenation Levels in Patients with COVID-19

Improving Oxygenation in COVID-19 Patients
Student’s Name
Institution affiliation
Course number/name
Instructor name
Due date
Improving Oxygenation in COVID-19 Patients
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by excessive stress on healthcare facilities around the globe (Sztajnbok et al., 2020).The increased number of hospital admissions and the rising cases of respiratory failure has resulted in the rapid depletion of critical care resources particularly the respiratory support equipment, for instance, oxygen supplies and ventilators. Many patients all over the world risk developing respiratory complications and even death due to lower oxygenation levels in emergency facilities (Slessarev et al., 2020). The major problem in the healthcare department is the shortage of oxygen supply and critical care equipment including the ventilators to improve the healthcare outcomes of COVID-19 patients.
Healthcare facilities and emergency departments have been faced with the oxygenation resource following the surge of COVID-19. The pandemic has prompted the need to improve the healthcare facilities’ oxygen systems (Graham et al., 2020). Studies reveal that although many healthcare facilities have oxygen concentrators and cylinders in their emergency departments and intensive care units, most of the concentrators and cylinders were defective or empty. Healthcare professionals are unable to effectively provide care to COVID-19 patients because of a lack of critical resources. Older people and patients with underlying health problems are the most affected by the lack of respiratory support equipment and lower levels of oxygenation because they are at a greater risk of developing respiratory complications when infected with COVID-19 (Thibodeaux et al., 2020). In some cases, patients require mechanical ventilation due to the severity of COVID-19.
A lack of adequate supply of oxygen and important respiratory support equipment has been detrimental to many healthcare facilities. According to the World Health Organization, COVID-19 has caused more than 160, 000 deaths primarily because of the shortage of critical care resources (Thibodeaux et al., 2020). A lack of resources may also be accompanied by prolonged hospital stay especially among older people (MacLaren et al., 2020). Low oxygenation levels among COVID-19 patients have also been associated with thrombosis which lowers the quality of life and reduces their chances of survival (Mustafa et al., 2020). There is a need to address the issue of oxygen supply because of its devastating impacts on healthcare provision.
The challenges currently facing healthcare facilities due to inadequate supply of oxygen have nursing implication...