Using Nitrous

*Nitrous oxide should be administered with caution to patients with chronic respiratory problems such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, pneumothorax and cystic fibrosis because of hypoxia due to increased airway resistance.DO NOT use nitrous on patients who are pregnant or might be pregnant and patients who are taking benzodiazepines.. ALWAYS review health history with patients before administering. Certified individuals must always be with patient while nitrous is being administered, DO NOT leave patient unsupervised or alone in room. All patients are to be wearing/ monitored with Pulse Ox.
***ALL PATIENTS WHO ARE BEING TREATED WITH NITROUS NEED TO SIGN A CONSENT FORM BEFORE NITROUS IS ADMINISTERED***   What you will need:

*Reservoir Bag     

*Nitrous Hose 

*Disposable Nasal Hood

*Pulse oximeter on pts finger

 Set Up:

1. Attach Reservoir bag to system

2. Attach large grey nitrous hose to attachment above reservoir bag 

3. Attach smaller white nitrous hose to attachment next to reservoir bag 

4. Choose appropriate size nasal hood for your patient and attach white nitrous hose to nasal hood

5. Make sure nasal hood fits patient and is snug on patients nose but comfortable with no leaks 

6. Place PulseOx on Pts finger and notate baseline Oxygen saturation. It should be 95% or higher. If at any point during the procedure the saturation drops below 95% first adjust the pulse oximeter. If it does not improve return patient to full oxygen. If no improvement in 30 seconds ask someone to get a doctor calmly but swiftly.

7. Open valve by flipping switch towards you. 

8. Turn on Nitrous system by pressing the POWER button.

   1. Set the flow to 6L for adults and 5L for children

   2. Use blue (+) and (-) buttons to increase the N20 percentage  *Start patients at pure 02 and turn to 50% N2O and 50% O2 ratio to begin with and adjust higher or lower as needed.

9. After procedures/treatment is completed use (-) button on far left to allow only pure O2 to flow for 5 minutes while monitoring patient. Remove nitrous hood from patients nose and make sure patient is feeling okay before dismissing.  

   

 *Turn off nitrous system using red POWER button *Switch valve away from you to close (next to Reservoir bag, refer to photo 6) *Wipe down all nitrous hoses with and properly dispose of nitrous hood