Oxygen plays a leading role in the medical industry and is integral to the long-term treatment and care of patients. As it is used across all levels of the healthcare system, weight and ease of handling matters – and portable cylinders have proved to be transformative for prescribers, patients and providers.
Read on to discover the benefits that lightweight cylinders bring to a healthcare setting, and how they can help the people dependent on oxygen, as well as those who prescribe and provide it.
Portable Oxygen Tanks – A Closer Look
Portable oxygen tanks are cylinders that hold compressed oxygen gas.
They can be used with a wide range of medical devices such as respirators and are also useful for patients who depend on supplementary oxygen at home or while travelling.
Medical oxygen is used to alleviate the symptoms of diseases and illnesses which affect the lungs – such as asthma, lung cancer, COPD and pneumonia. It’s also used to treat patients in surgery or those who have suffered from trauma or heart failure.
Prescribers and Portable Oxygen
Portable oxygen cylinders, such as our Type 3 gas cylinders, can be beneficial to prescribers due to their light weight.
This helps to cut load costs and makes it much easier to transport cylinders between the facilities and settings where they are needed. They also offer handling advantages, which can make the jobs of healthcare professionals more straightforward – something which is very valuable to people dealing with medical emergencies in high-pressure environments.
Portable oxygen tanks that offer higher pressures (300 bar) hold more oxygen, which means they need to be filled less often. This can further help prescribers and providers, as it means fewer cylinders are required to deliver services.
Patients and Portable Oxygen
Oxygen is an essential treatment for many patients suffering from serious respiratory illnesses such as COPD, asthma and lung disease. As these conditions target the lungs, they can have a severe impact on breathing, resulting in breathlessness and fatigue.
In practical terms, the lighter and more portable an oxygen cylinder is, the more benefits it delivers to patients in terms of freedom and independence. For those who depend on oxygen cylinders – every kilogram matters. This is especially true for elderly or infirm patients, who are frail or live alone and need a reliable source of oxygen that will not be too difficult or heavy to use.
Lighter cylinders are easier to carry and take up less space. This allows patients to take their own medications wherever they go without having to rely on others for assistance when they need it most (e.g., when travelling).
This grants oxygen users greater independence and the ability to travel more freely, without worrying about whether they will run out of oxygen.
Providers and Portable Cylinders
Portable oxygen tanks offer significant value to gas cylinder providers servicing the healthcare industry.
Prescribers are continually looking for easier and more effective ways to improve patient care, and portable oxygen cylinders offer a range of characteristics which directly benefit both the healthcare professionals and patients using them. As they are lightweight, they are easier to manage, transport and use, whilst their higher pressures reduce the need for them to be filled as often, saving time and money over the long term.
Portable oxygen tanks, therefore, fulfil the requirements of the provider’s core customer base – offering opportunities from a commercial and financial perspective.
Medical Gas Cylinders from AMS Composite Cylinders
Our lightweight portable home oxygen cylinders are available in a range of standard and customised sizes, including 1L,2L and 3L capacities. They are produced to ISO and EN standards (including ISO-11119-2, ISO 11119-1, EN 12245, EN 12257, ISO 7666 and ISO 11118) and to the requirements of UN PED/TPED, DOT (USA) and TC (Canada). Cylinders hold Rho ρ marking for the UK.
Products include carbon composite cylinders for a wide variety of breathing air, oxygen therapy and other applications, such as healthcare, respiratory, hydrogen fuel cell, SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus), laboratory, emergency and environmental uses.
Find out more here.