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Clinic and Hospital Administrators: Do you need to get your staff trained in hyperbaric medicine but have a limited budget?

When treating patients with hyperbaric therapy in the monoplace chamber using 100% oxygen, the supervising hyperbaric physician may order air breaks to be provided to the patient at certain intervals during the treatment.

This article will provide you with some background on liquid oxygen, which is the most common form of bulk storage for this gas. The manufacture, storage, basic design of a liquid oxygen converter, and general safety practices will be covered. Again, keep in mind that working around oxygen has its hazards, but working around a liquid oxygen system can be outright deadly if you have not been properly trained.

Sinus and internal and external ear disorders are the most common side effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO₂).¹ These spaces are the cranium’s pneumatic sockets and, particularly those of the middle and inner ear, are most frequently involved in the pressure stress caused by compression and decompression maneuvers during exposure to altered pressures in the hyperbaric chamber. Barotrauma is the mechanical tissue damage produced by environmental pressure variation, and the middle ear is the most frequently involved structure in this kind of damage. According to Boyle’s law (the product of pressure and volume is a constant for a given mass of confined gas) it is easy to understand why all enclosed air cavities are more susceptible to this kind of lesion. Barotraumas can occur due to an increase or decrease of gas volume. To avoid gas volume decrease during the compression phase, the patient must perform some compensatory maneuvers aimed at inhaling and forcing gas (air or oxygen) into the nasal and sinus cavities. During decompression in the chamber or even underwater, the body’s gas expands and is expelled from cavities to the outside, usually without any active maneuver. It is essential to teach the patient about the functions of the hyperbaric chamber and the correct maneuvers of baro compensation. In this article, we will describe the main barotraumas that can occur during hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Did you know that you can purchase online CME/CEU courses in bulk at a reduced rate? Save money by purchasing a course package to address all of your continuing education needs this year, or the needs of your clinic staff members!

We conduct and announce a lot of courses in hyperbaric medicine throughout the year. Each course is a little different, with unique aspects we would like to highlight to help you decide which course might be a good fit for you to attend.

We get a lot of questions from hospital administrators and clinic directors asking what makes our Introductory Course in Hyperbaric Medicine unique. While there are many benefits to hosting hyperbaric team training through Wound Care Education Partners (WCEP), we have broken out the four most valuable reasons why hosting a live, classroom-based Introductory Course in Hyperbaric Medicine with WCEP may be right for your facility. Watch this short, insightful video to find answers before you book hyperbaric team training with any organization.

Do you worry about not having a big enough patient load at your wound care and hyperbaric medicine clinic? Do you struggle with marketing due to low budget and not enough resources?

We have big news to share with you...

Many refer to Dr. Eric Kindwall at the "Father of Hyperbaric Medicine," and his contributions to hyperbaric medicine are legendary. Dr. Kindwall was born on January 17, 1934 and passed away on January 18, 2012. For this reason, we find it fitting to highlight his contributions to the field of hyperbaric medicine during the month of January.

Do you have trouble finding a CME/CEU course that fits your exact needs? Do you find that the topics never quite apply to you, or that the format of the course doesn't fit your schedule and/or budget? Is it difficult finding a course that offers the hours you need, without charging you for extra hours that you don't need?

Today is a special blog post, not our normal format. That said, as you may know, we are co-hosting a 21-Day Diabetes and Wound Care Challenge with Best Publishing Company. Registration for the 21-Day Diabetes and Wound Care Challenge opened on Wednesday and it has been very well received! There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm among our colleagues! Have you accepted the challenge?

Ideally, an HBO program should have a detailed policy for the diabetic patient and the immediate steps that one should take to elevate the patient’s blood sugar. However, for the patient who has a recurring problem with blood sugars that are less than the recommended pretreatment level, there are several options. One option is to contact the managing physician and explain the need for relaxed glycemic control while receiving hyperbaric therapy.

"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success." - Alexandar Graham Bell

Start planning now to earn your 2015 CME/CNE/CEU credits. Don't know how to start? Below are five questions to help you start the planning process, and watch the short video to get all the details.

We all learn about barotrauma in the Introductory Course in Hyperbaric Medicine. The question we have for you today is whether or not you remember the mechanisms of what causes barotrauma and how to properly pre-screen HBOT patients.

There has been a lot of communication in the marketplace, as well as confusion and misunderstanding, over the past few weeks regarding the final publication details and implementation notice of the Medicare Administrator Contractor’s, Novitas LCD on hyperbaric medicine for hospitals and physicians. The LCD takes effect July 24th, 2014. A major development with MAC’s and commercial insurance products recently, is their taking a stance on practice requirements. They are dictating credentialing standards. This most recent LCD from Novitas reflects that positioning as well. In this blog post we give you straight answers that will provide clarity and assist you in understanding how the revised requirements will impact you and your program staff.

Is it a goal of your clinic to achieve 100% staff credentialing? If not, your facility is missing a huge opportunity. Having a fully credentialed staff sends the message to referring physicians, patients, and your local community that meeting a national standard of high quality health care is your clinic's #1 priority. Being fully credentialed also sends the message that your clinic has a very competent clinical team. And when faced with making a patient referral, wouldn't you rather refer a patient to a facility that you trust to be competent and provide the highest quality of care?

By providing community education to potential patients you are, in the words of John Peters, incoming Executive Director of UHMS and Managing Partner of Wound Care Education Partners, “building awareness, and with that awareness we’re able to impact healing outcomes for patients in our community.”

We recently recieved this question from a prospective student. If you find yourself asking this same question, read on to learn the course of action we recommend.

We are often asked the question, "Does participation in a safety director course automatically designate me as a hyperbaric safety director?" There seems to be some midunderstanding around this issue.

Below you'll find some of the questions we get asked about the Introductory Course in Hyperbaric Medicine (ICHM) - along with our honest answers. We'll tell you everything about the program and what it takes so you can make the best enrollment decision for you.

The development of a comprehensive maintenance program for a hyperbaric system and its supporting equipment is essential for a safe and cost-effective operation. The chamber and its operational systems, the chamber room, and the equipment used in and around the chamber should be maintained at the highest operational level. This should also include the cleanliness of all elements of the interior and exterior systems.

Henry's law can be used to examine the transfer of gases into and out of a scuba diver's body. 

Question: "I would be interested in the current perspective regarding supervision of hyperbaric dives by Nurse Practitioners.

Question. Is myocardial irritability a complication frequently experienced by patients with clostridial myonecrosis?

Question. What sparked the dawn of the modern hyperbaric era?

Question: Patients present to the wound care practitioner in a myriad of ways, how does the practitioner decide how to manage the wound?

Question: Each winter many hyperbaric oxygen therapy patients have difficulty getting to their scheduled treatments due to inclement weather. What recommendations do you have for helping keep patients' treatment schedules on track when the weather is a barrier to treatment?