Ok, I'm going to plead complete ignorance.  What catastrophic event is going to occur between O2 and Chapstick? 

wow...this was interesting

had no idea chapstick was bad

Speaking of oxygen tanks and smoking, a patient was rushed to our hospital last week. They were on oxygen, lit up their cigeratte, and you know the rest. Other students that were with this patient said the smell was just incredible. I'm not sure if they lived or not. I would have to ask.

How dumb are people?

sap says ...

Speaking of oxygen tanks and smoking, a patient was rushed to our hospital last week. They were on oxygen, lit up their cigeratte, and you know the rest. Other students that were with this patient said the smell was just incredible. I'm not sure if they lived or not. I would have to ask.

How dumb are people?

LOL..Sap....I guess the addiction is way greater then the need to breathe.  Fortunate for us, he actually takes the oxygen off, so there hasn't been any mishaps yet.  But I use to get on him when my grandmother was alive, because he would smoke near her while she was on her machine...which was all the time towards the end. 

Surgi-lube as a lip balm?   that is just gross.   Surgi-lube becomes sticky when drying...  also because surgi-lube is water based it evaporates and dries out...  making the chapping and dry lips all the more severe...  besides- try tasting that stuff.   Do you really want that on your lips?

The below is copied from an emergency medicine mag....

http://www.emedmag.com/html/pre/tri/tri/1001.asp

TOO TRICKY? In a comment on the April 2001 trick, "The Sweet Smell of O2," Dr. C. Philip Carter of Powell, Tennessee, questions the safety of pressing flavored lip balm into the wall end of an oxygen flow tube. With oxygen flow, the balm should coat the inside of the tubing to give the gas a more pleasant smell. Dr. Carter, who is also a lawyer, is concerned that a petroleum-based product might create a fire or explosion hazard and suggests discussing this concept with the local respiratory therapist or engineer before putting it into practice. Personally, I doubt that the hazard concern carries much weight, considering first that the volume of lip balm is only pea-sized and, second, that no source of fire or flame should be around oxygen in any case. Furthermore, I tried to light three different brands of balm without success. They only melted, even the one loaded with menthol. I wonder if anyone else would care to comment?

• Since it's about the pt's (and not the 100 % profit)


• there are multiple non petroleum based products that your pt can buy OTC and are SAFE for O2 use, So that we/they don't have to buy from an E-bay website.  (small world the seller on ebay is located in the same city that you're in John Dell)

Additionally, ALL PRODUCTS evaporate in time, surgilube is FREE, readily available......AND your not being a sales REP to pt's, Which BTW, most employers would frown on....especially if YOUR PEDDLING a product for 100% profit.  I wouldn't SELL A PRODUCT PRIVATELY  TO ANY OF MY PATIENTS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES,

that is not what a hospital hires us to do.

Again...  I have nothing to do with the manufacture or marketing of the product.   It is an alternative that I have found works very well with my patients.   Visiting Nurse Service in Akron Ohio gives it to the O2 patients that they treat at home...  Gives - not sells.   This is where I stumbled upon the product...   One of the RRT's that was employed there reportedly invented the balm.   It is a very small company that serves the local medical facilities...  so being in the same town is no coincidence at all.

I fail to see why you continually attempt to attack my character and motives.   Personally, it seems like you own stock in Surgi-lube...

 Again...  where I work we are prohibited from using petro based products with O2.   Something that other people in the country are obviously prohibited from doing also....   so sorry you are offended by my suggestion of an alternative treatment....   I now respect your authority as board policeman and censor.   Continue on my friend and remenber....   don't forget the lube...

yes... I do sell it.    I order it a case at a time.   I give it to patients during home visits and if they want additional for family members I sell them for 2.00 a tube. at about a 100% profit-    so what?   I give away more than I sell...  selling a few allows me to provide it to my patients for free.   

the Balm is NOT only available on Ebay.  VNS sells it and I have even seen it being sold locally in 2 phamacy chains... Ritzman Pharmacy is one retailer.    the company does have a website but it is down-   I was informed via email that it is being revamped to better handle the ordering online.... I cant verify that...  but the site was up and running the last time I ordered.

 the product has met all FDA guidlines and complies with all regulations.  it comes with an information sheet.     Again... it is just some good balm that the patients rave over...    tell you what-  I will send you a tube that I have purchased and you can read the literature, try it out and judge for yourself...  or just say no-thanks and we will move on.   your mission to dis-credit someone and something you know nothing about is ugly...     I fully understand that caution must be used when treating patients....   but compassion must also....

I am not a nurse...  I am an RRT.     And why the gender bias?   "worth her salt"   

I guess Visiting Nurse Service has a conflict of interest too because they offer the balm for sale at the counter.  them... along with about 5 other major health care providers in the area...    and it is a lip balm.... nothing more.

I am done with this..   You are free to believe and think what you want... its your right.  My patients love the stuff and I will stand by my decision to offer it to them.  that is my right.

have a nice day and thanks so much for the hospitality...

Kitty, I think you identified him and his motives accurately.  He didn't care for that much, did he?  Maybe he can offer up something a bit more substantial to us Nurses for his next thread?  Lip balm? Seriously?  Who cares? 

Well I've tried using surgilube on my lips when I accidentally left my usual lip balm at home.  Never worked for me, made my lips worse and it tastes sort of nasty.  I don't use anything petroleum based because I'm actually sensitive to those products.  You can't imagine what all we use that is petroleum based until you begin to  investigate.

Yes, there is an increased danger using petroleum jelly with oxygen, particularly in winter, when the humidity in the air is far dryer.  Petroleum jelly is banned from the OR and has been for years.