ROCC
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Reducing Oxygen Consumption in Critical care (ROCC)
IRAS ID
310355
Contact name
Michael Polkey
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 0 days
Research summary
In normal practice oxygen supply can be easily met with existing hospital infrastructure. COVID - 19 however results in lung damage which greatly increases the amount of oxygen patients require - as a consequence some hospitals in the UK and other countries had situations where there was not enough oxygen for their inpatients.
The COVID – 19 pandemic also caused many more patients requiring assistance with their breathing using a ventilator. Due to the limited supply of sophisticated ventilators that 're-use' oxygen when patients breathe out, some hospitals used ventilators normally used by patients at home (domiciliary ventilators). Whilst these are inexpensive and commonly available, any oxygen going to the ventilator when the patient breathes out is simply released into the atmosphere.
The address this problem, and in turn reduce the oxygen demand on hospital infrastructure the biomedical engineering team (BME) at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London devised a simple modification which captures and reuses oxygen on commonly used domiciliary ventilators. Laboratory testing found this modification can increase the oxygen given to the patient without increasing the oxygen consumption of the ventilator - effectively reducing oxygen demand on hospital infrastructure.
This study will evaluate this modification in patients admitted to intensive care requiring assistance with their breathing. Participants will be connected to a commonly used home ventilator (Called the Breas Nippy 4+, ResMed Lumis 150 or Vivo 1, 2 or 3). The researcher will then increase the oxygen level received through the ventilator to 3 different levels with the modification on and off, measuring the participants oxygen levels at each increase. The researcher will then leave the modification on (effectively giving the patient more oxygen) and slowly decrease the oxygen supply to the ventilator until the participants oxygen level is at a safe, stable level. The study will last 2 hours.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
22/WA/0264
Date of REC Opinion
11 Oct 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion