A patient is on 80%/20% heliox therapy by nonrebreathing mask. If flowing through an oxygen flow meter, what is the actual flow of the mixture if the flow meter indicates 10 L/min?
A. 18 L/min
B. 8 L/min
C. 14 L/min
D. 16 L/min
A. 18 L/min
Explanation :
When helium-oxygen mixtures are run through flow meters that are intended for oxygen only, the indicated flow on the flow meter is inaccurate. This is because the helium-oxygen mixture is less viscous and does not push the indicator ball up as much as does oxygen. In this case, a correction factor must be used depending upon the mixture percentages. For an 80/20% mixture a correction factor of 1.8 must be used. A 70/30% mixture has a correction factor of 1.6 and a 60/40% mixture has a correction factor of 1.4. In this problem the 80/20% mixture factor of 1.8 must be multiplied by the indicated flow on the oxygen flow meter to calculate actual total gas flow. When we do this we get a total gas flow of 18 L/min.
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