It was our department's policy to over oxygenate for most of my career. We brought dead people in to the hospital that were pinked up with aggressive CPR. In the last few years it was decided that some of our patients were having poor outcomes because we raised their O2 levels too much.
But sure some people still looked blue when we delivered them; I just never heard people use the term “blue people” to describe them. But we tended to hang out more with the ambulance and medic crews than the ER staff so maybe I missed something. I understand your point and am sorry for reacting the way that I did.
Blue people is something that occurred to me yesterday. Like with the malaria deal. How many US doctors have seen malaria? I have. One afternoon I saw a whole bunch of malaria. Malaria impressed the hell out of me. This disease impressed that first doctor that recognized it.
I read that some MDs say CPAPs can give significant respiratory support for patients with milder needs, making ventilators more available for the severely ill. There are ~300x more CPAPs than ventilators in the US. (Probably way more than that: this figure was from a couple of years ago.) This could be organized *far* more efficiently locally and statewide than nationally.
My question: from the standpoint of your training and experience, does this make sense?