Question 13
How does administration of supplementary oxygen help to maintain homeostasis of respiration?
The respiratory system maintains homeostasis in two methods that include regulation of blood pH and gas exchange. Gas exchange occurs through the lungs by elimination of a carbon dioxide. CO2 is a waste product that is produced by cellular respiration. The question now remains how administration of supplementary oxygen helps to maintain homeostasis of respiration. What happens is that as the CO2 exits from the human body, through the lungs, the oxygen that is needed for cellular respiration enters. In people who are healthy, increase in CO2 causes increased drive to breath; however, people with chronic disease such as obstructive pulmonary their response has been blunted which leaves low levels of oxygen as the primary stimulus of the respiration. Therefore, if the body lacks the supplementary oxygen, the functioning of the brain is affected in addition to developing problems associated with poor sense of judgment. In the occurrence, the body inhales plenty of the supplementary oxygen; it is ‘processed’ by alveoli before being delivered to the cells after absorption in the blood stream. If the blood in the body lacks enough oxygen for sufficient respiration, lungs adapt with an aim of bringing more oxygen. For instance, when one goes for a run, the work muscles do increases requiring more energy. Consequently, respiration increases making the body need extra oxygen to meet the demand. These developments explain the quicker and heavy breathing during exercises. As a result, homeostasis is achieved (Fuhrman, 2011).
What impact would the administration of supplementary O2 have on the patient’s respiratory rate? What impact would the administration of supplementary O2 have on the patient’s SpO2?
The respiratory rate in a patient decreases because of administration of supplementary oxygen (Scully, 2017). Giving supplemental oxygen to a patient leads to a reduction in the stimulus to breath which eventually causes respiration to slow in what is called hypoventilation sometimes referred to as respiratory depression and at the same time allows CO2 to be accumulated in the body. The purpose of administering supplementary oxygen is to achieve near or normal oxygen saturation. Moreover, the type or amount of supplementary oxygen administered depends on the condition under treatment. Either high or low concentrations can cause harm. Therefore, in general, administration of supplementary O2 increases the patient’s SpO2 (Beasley, et al., 2015).
Reference
Beasley, R., Chien, J., Douglas, J., Eastlake, L., Farah, C., King, G., … & Walters, H. (2015). Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand oxygen guidelines for acute oxygen use in adults:‘Swimming between the flags’. Respirology, 20(8), 1182-1191.
Fuhrman, B. P. (2011). Pediatric critical care. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders.