Say goodbye to nitrogen narcosis?


Another discovery in the diving word eh?  Or perhaps an incentive for risk taking divers to go to the extremes – who knows.  It is fascinating to see that someone has created a “gummy bear for the deep”.

From SporkDiver.UK: Nitrogen narcosis, or the ‘Raptures of the Deep’, as Jacques-Yves Cousteau called it, is the disorientating effect and altered state of mind caused by breathing nitrogen at a high partial pressure. The deeper a diver descends, the higher the partial pressure of nitrogen and other gases in his air will be. For this reason, nitrogen narcosis is usually thought of as a function of depth. The deeper a diver goes, the greater the narcosis.

Read whole article here

Does your patient REALLY understand you?

HEAR YOU copyThis isn’t a language barrier question, this is a medical literacy question. Did you know that 9 out of 10 patients do not receive health information in a way they can use or understand?

 “Nothing, not age, income, employment status, educational level and race or ethnic group affects health status more than literacy skills”

Studies have shown that 40-80 percent of the medical information patients receive is forgotten immediately and nearly half of the information retained is incorrect. One of the easiest ways to close the gap of communication between clinician and patient is to employ the “teach-back” method, also known as the “show-me” method or “closing the loop.” Teach-back is a way to confirm that you have explained to the patient what they need to know in a manner that the patient understands. Patient understanding is confirmed when they explain it back to you. It can also help the clinic staff members identify explanations and communication strategies that are most commonly understood by patients.

Best Publishing has been kind enough to post a podcast interview about the teach back method as well as patient education.

Here is the link

Decompression Sickness in Miami

We just heard about a friends daughter getting 8 hyperbaric treatments for what sounds like at least a type 2 DCS or possibly an AGE (she is completely paralyzed on one side) and symptoms have not subsided. We are unsure about what type of chamber was used but it was at a FL hospital, nor do we know how long the treatments were or the depth of each treatment.


It’ll be interesting to see if the patient was treated with any US NAVY Dive Tables (not monoplace modified tables).

Any comments on this would be great.
If if your facility does receive such symptoms without any dive information (if patient doesn’t recall any of the depths and dive times) how would you treat this patient? How deep, how long?

The Relationship Between HBO Patient Education, Patient Satisfaction, Compliance, and Reimbursement


Have you ever wondered why your patients quit hyperbaric therapy? Why would they quit despite the fact that they could potentially lose a toe or a foot? Sure a certain percentage of them are claustrophobic, some of them listened to their archaic physicians negative viewpoint of HBOT, some just do not care and have given up, then there are the ones we put in that “uncategorized box” because we really couldn’t pinpoint their rational, instead we categorize these patients simply as “NON-COMPLIANT”.



Patient Safety Instructions Card now available exclusively from Best Publishing

Order your Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Patient Safety Instructions today and watch your patient compliance increase along with outcomes, patient satisfaction, and your clinic’s value-based reimbursement!

Have you ever wondered why your patients quit hyperbaric therapy? A clinicians’ work doesn’t stop at technical and clinical know-how in today’s healthcare setting. Although these are essential, so too are the human skills such as customer service, effective patient teaching skills, and service recovery (how to deal with a not so happy patient and recover their business). Almost every hospital in America (if they are even slightly concerned about getting paid) has an in-house or outsourced department that specifically tracks patient satisfaction as well as provides the appropriate training for those that have not yet proven proficient in customer service.
Does Your Clinic Want to Increase:

-Patient Compliance
-Value-based reimbursement
-Patient satisfaction

If you answered yes to any of the above, this is the perfect product for you!

“Studies find that patients that are more educated about their therapy are more satisfied and compliant with treatment recommendations and that there is a direct association between patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes” Source: Journal For Patient Compliance

As healthcare providers, it is important that we understand the relationship between improved and effective patient education, patient compliance, patient satisfaction, and value-based reimbursement. Let this product work for you!

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FDA Cracks down on “misleading claims” regarding Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy


The FDA is at it again.  If you have been advertising (even on your website) that you treat anything other than the “approved indications”  and you haven’t seen a “WARNING LETTER” from the FDA yet – IT WONT BE LONG before you do.  The age of regulation is upon us and the government needs to have a “return on investment” (ROI) for the hiring the largest number of regulators in US history.  Good, bad, or indifferent, everyone in the industry will be affected by this crackdown- even if you are doing everything correctly.  It will only take one bad news article about HBOT and down goes the reputation of the therapy.  I am sure you are asking yourself  “What does the FDA have to do with my advertising of my facility or my chambers?”  This is from the FDA’s website:

FDA’s Role

FDA encourages companies that offer DTC advertising to include accurate information in their ads. Through a comprehensive surveillance and enforcement program, the agency ensures that consumers are not misled or deceived by advertisements that violate the law.

In addition, FDA advances and encourages better communication of labeling and promotional information to health professionals and to consumers.

Please do remember that hyperbaric chambers are “cleared” by the FDA and that the FDA also monitors and can regulate the advertising of  “off-label” indications to the consumers.  I am sure one can argue that the FDA has no right to tell a physician what they can and cannot treat in their chambers but they do seem to have the right to monitor unsubstantiated claims about what HBO can and cannot treat.

In case no one has seen Title 21 (good reference).  I hope you enjoyed this update.




Subpart F–Therapeutic Devices

Sec. 868.5470 Hyperbaric chamber.
(a)Identification. A hyperbaric chamber is a device that is intended to increase the environmental oxygen pressure to promote the movement of oxygen from the environment to a patient’s tissue by means of pressurization that is greater than atmospheric pressure. This device does not include topical oxygen chambers for extremities (878.5650).(b)Classification. Class II (performance standards).

News articles:

FDA cracks down on misleading claims about autism therapies

FDA warns consumers about claims regarding autism treatments


FDA Notice/Warnings/Consumer Updates

Beware of False or Misleading Claims for Treating Autism

NEW PRODUCT! Patient Hyperbaric Safety Instructions Card – Monoplace


Three years later and we have finally developed a Hyperbaric Safety Instructions Card for Monoplace chambers.  This patient education piece is geared more towards patients rather than the clinical professionals in hyperbaric medicine.  The inspiration for this came from the airline industry (flight safety card located on seat backs of airline seats).  The FAA requires airlines to have an educational piece that is easy to understand with universal signage that almost anyone – no matter where they are from or what language they speak could understand.  We have tried to make this as universal as possible – this is why it took three years.  The language is in English and a Spanish one is being developed as we speak.

Illustrated Step-by-step Guide for all your patients

This patient educational piece provides your patients a step-by-step guide as to what to expect prior to, during, and after each treatment (THIS IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR APPROPRIATE PATIENT EDUCATION BUT MAY BE USED AS AN ADJUNCT TO THE CURRENT EDUCATION YOU PROVIDE YOUR PATIENTS).  This guide could be used to assist in educating each patient about what to expect during the hyperbaric treatments.

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