What Standard of Patient Care Should I Expect at HyOx Medical Treatment Center?

HyOx delivers the highest standard of care by following the standards and protocols set by the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society, the standard-setting organization for the sub-specialty of hyperbaric medicine and adhering to all safety and federal guidelines.

Our team is highly focused on a positive patient experience and making evidence-based hyperbaric oxygen therapy a successful part of your total medical treatment plan. You should expect:

• High quality care

• A clean and safe environment

• Supportive care for you and your family/caregivers

• Privacy protection

• Discharge support

• Financial counseling and billing claim assistance

How Do I Prepare for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

The HyOx team reviews the following areas with you prior to commencing your treatment regimen to ensure compatibility and safety.

Education

Prior to starting treatment, hyperbaric oxygen therapy education is given as part of the process of obtaining your consent for treatment.

Clothing

Before treatment, you will be asked to change into 100 percent cotton scrubs to help ensure safety and cleanliness inside the chamber. No articles containing nylon or polyester or watches, jewelry, hearing aids, contact lenses, and prosthetic devices can be worn inside the chamber. Eyeglasses are acceptable. Lockers are provided, but please leave all valuables at home. Also, personal cleanliness is important to the effectiveness of the treatment. Wound dressings are left on during treatment.

Colds and Symptoms of Illness

Notify the HyOx team if you have a cold or symptoms of a cold or flu — including fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, fever blisters, cold sores, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or general body aches. Sickness can affect your ability to clear your ears during compression and decompression in the chamber. It’s advised to postpone treatments until symptoms have subsided.

Cosmetics

Makeup, hair spray, wigs, perfume, nail polish, skin lotions, and shaving lotion containing a petroleum (Vaseline) or alcohol base are prohibited inside the hyperbaric chamber. Deodorant should not be used prior to entering the chamber, although it can be applied post-treatment. For your safety, a complete list of prohibited materials will be reviewed prior to treatment.

Medications

HyOx physicians review your medical and drug history and conduct a complete physical evaluation prior to treatment. This enables the clinical team to confirm your viability for treatment and if changes in medication or schedule are necessary.

Your hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment regimen is prescribed according to your diagnosis, symptoms, overall condition, and primary physician’s current treatment methods. As some medications are not compatible with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, each drug you take is reviewed. Your referring physician will be advised to any medication concerns or recommendations.

If you have diabetes and are on insulin, it is important to monitor blood sugars. Also, report any symptoms of low blood sugar to a HyOx team member. If this happens once treatment begins, snacks are available to be served inside the chamber.

Smoking

Nicotine is incompatible with hyperbaric oxygen therapy because it diminishes your body’s ability to absorb oxygen by constricting the blood vessels. For best results, stop smoking until your hyperbaric treatment regimen is complete.

What Happens During a Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment?

Upon entering HyOx’s multi-patient chamber, you are assigned a reclining seat with a footrest. Accommodations are made for patients who must remain lying down. After vital signs are taken, you are equipped with a fitted hood or mask connected to the hyperbaric oxygen supply. A certified hyperbaric technician or physician remains in the chamber throughout the treatment’s duration.

Technicians also are present outside the hyperbaric chamber following the Navy’s dive tables to regulate the time within the pressurized chamber. The chamber attendant can communicate with the outside technicians. There also is a camera posted inside the hyperbaric chamber for extra observation and safety.

During treatment, patients read, do work, listen to music, or watch movies on the chamber’s entertainment system. Medications, beverages, snacks, and a private restroom are available at all times during treatment in HyOx’s multi-patient hyperbaric chamber.

The power of hyperbaric medicine is in its ability to supersaturate your blood plasma by osmosis with 100 percent oxygen. During the two-hour treatment, the hyperoxygenation, under time and pressure limits, provides the body with the life-giving energy and food to your tissues and cells to help complications from cancer, infection, trauma, and wounds.

What Do the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Treatments Feel Like?

Although hyperbaric oxygen therapy is painless, you may have a sensation of fullness in your ears as eardrums respond to changes in atmospheric pressure during the compression (descent) phase in the hyperbaric chamber. The feeling is similar to traveling on a mountain road, changing attitudes in an airplane or changing depths in scuba diving. If needed, nasal spray is provided to help drain nasal passages to clear the ears.

Techniques for clearing your ears (forcing air into the middle ear and make the eardrums bow outward) are reviewed and practiced to minimize the risk of barotraumas (injury caused by a change in air pressure) to the ears or sinuses caused by pressure changes. If you cannot clear your ears on your own, pressure-equalizing tubes inserted by an ear, nose, and throat specialist may be required.

As the chamber begins to fill with air, you wear headsets to reduce the amount of noise the circulating air makes when the “virtual descent” to 45 feet below sea level begins (called compression). The chamber itself doesn’t move — it’s the pressure inside that changes — reaching the equivalent of two to three times the pressure of air at sea level.

The air inside the chamber will get warmer during this time, but since the chamber is temperature-regulated, it cools off once the descent is completed. When you reach the prescribed pressure (usually 2.0-2.5 ATA), you are asked to place the clear hood or mask over your head to begin breathing in the 100 percent oxygen. The attendant inside the chamber is there to assist patient with this process, especially during the first few treatments.

How Many Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments Will I Need?

The diagnosis, symptoms and your overall condition determine our treatment protocol. For most patients, the average number of hyperbaric oxygen treatments is 30-60 set by evidence-based clinical studies and protocols. Of course, this number varies according to a patient’s condition, response to hyperbaric oxygen therapy and commitment to consistent treatment sessions.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments are administered on consecutive days Monday through Friday until complete. For best results, it is of utmost importance no treatment days are missed. A HyOx physician can verify your treatment schedule with your employer if needed.

How Do I Get Referral for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Patients are accepted either by physician referral or by self referral. A consultation is scheduled for patient evaluation using criteria established by the American College of Hyperbaric Medicine and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. 

HyOx’s medical team works with other clinicians caring for you to coordinate adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen treatments with medications and other therapies. Throughout the course of treatment, regular progress reports are sent to your referring physician and care team, including photographs to visually document healing progression.

Patient Form

Georgia Aquarium Patient Form