High-Flow Oxygen Therapy Following Tracheostomy

Respiratory failure patients sometimes receive tracheostomy due to difficulty weaning from mechanical ventilation. Efforts to wean patients with a tracheostomy usually involve the administration of oxygen via High Humidity device. There are two major ways of administering oxygen to patients which include low flow delivered at less than 10Liters per minute (LPM) and high-flow delivered at greater than 10LPM. There is not a currently accepted standard of care practice for how to administer oxygen therapy to these patients. Both Low and High Flow are accepted practices in the US.