High flow nasal oxygen is a novel device that actively humidifies and heats air to make flows of up to 60 liters a minutes tolerable. These incredibly high flows are important, because in order to provide 100% fiO2 to patients in respiratory distress, we must be able to match their minute ventilation. High flow nasal oxygen also offers the theoretical benefits of low levels of PEEP and allows for much easier communication with our patients.

n patients with nonhypercapnic acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, treatment with high-flow oxygen, standard oxygen, or noninvasive ventilation did not result in significantly different intubation rates. There was a significant difference in favor of high-flow oxygen in 90-day mortality.

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