If a patient is experiencing chest pain and is saturating at 90%, how should their breathing be managed?

Prepare for the Greater Miami Valley EMS Council Protocol Exam. Utilize flashcards and multiple-choice questions with detailed explanations to enhance your understanding and readiness for the test!

The correct approach in this scenario is to titrate with a nasal cannula until achieving a saturation of 94%. This method allows for the delivery of oxygen in a controlled manner, providing adequate supplementation while minimizing the risk of oxygen toxicity and potential respiratory distress.

In cases where patients are experiencing chest pain and have an oxygen saturation of 90%, the goal is to ensure sufficient oxygen transport to the body's tissues without overwhelming the respiratory drive. By using a nasal cannula, you can gradually increase the oxygen flow to help raise the saturation to a more optimal level without causing sudden changes in oxygen delivery that could exacerbate the situation.

Administering high-flow oxygen directly might be considered in critical cases but is not the first-line approach here as it does not allow for fine-tuning of the oxygen delivery. Instructing the patient to breathe deeply could be beneficial in some instances but may not effectively resolve the issue of low saturation. Using positive pressure ventilation would typically be reserved for patients who present with significant respiratory failure or severe distress, making it less appropriate for a patient just experiencing chest pain with borderline saturation.

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