How many oxygen cylinders do you need to take on transport? A nomogram for cylinder size and duration.

When undertaking patient retrieval, it is important to take adequate supplies of oxygen to ensure patient safety. Oxygen can be delivered via a flowmeter into a facemask or used to drive pneumatic ventilators. Given the lack of space in the back of an ambulance or helicopter, the numbers of cylinders that can be taken is limited, hence the number needed to complete the journey must be carefully calculated prior to embarking. We have produced nomograms to predict how many oxygen cylinders will be consumed during a given journey when using either a flowmeter or a commonly used transport ventilator.