An oxygen tent is a clear plastic canopy placed over a patient’s bed or upper body to deliver oxygen-enriched air. It creates a sealed environment where the oxygen concentration can be raised above the normal 21% found in room air, typically reaching up to 50%. While once a staple of hospital care, oxygen tents are now far less common, largely replaced by devices that deliver oxygen more precisely.
How an Oxygen Tent Works
The basic design is simple: a transparent plastic or vinyl sheet drapes over a frame around the patient, forming an enclosed space. Oxygen flows into this space through a port, gradually raising the concentration inside. Exhaled air and carbon dioxide escape through gaps, usually around the edges where the tent meets the bed. Because the enclosure isn’t perfectly sealed, oxygen levels fluctuate somewhat, but the tent is classified as a fixed-performance device, meaning it delivers a relatively consistent oxygen level regardless of how fast or slowly the patient breathes.
Most oxygen tents also include a humidification system. Pumping dry oxygen into an enclosed space for hours would irritate the airways, so the incoming gas passes through water or a humidifier before entering the tent. Older models used ice to cool the interior, sometimes melting around 10 pounds of ice per hour to keep a feverish patient comfortable. Keeping the temperature and humidity manageable inside the tent was a persistent engineering challenge, especially in warm weather, because the enclosed space naturally traps body heat.
Who Uses an Oxygen Tent
Oxygen tents were historically used for both adults and children, but their most lasting role has been in pediatrics. Infants and young children often won’t tolerate a face mask or nasal cannula. They pull at tubing, cry, and become more distressed, which is the opposite of what you want when a child is already struggling to breathe. A tent lets the child move freely, sleep, and even play within the enclosure while still receiving supplemental oxygen.
The conditions that most commonly called for an oxygen tent in children include pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and croup. Acute lower respiratory infections, particularly pneumonia and bronchiolitis, are the most frequent reason for hospitalization in children under five. For bronchiolitis specifically, supplemental oxygen is the only universally accepted treatment when oxygen levels drop. Oxygen is also recommended for children with severe pneumonia who show signs of cyanosis (a bluish tint to the skin) or who are unable to feed.
Oxygen Hoods for Newborns
For very small infants, a variation called an oxygen hood serves a similar purpose. Instead of covering the whole body, a hood is a clear plastic box or cylinder placed over just the baby’s head. Oxygen flows in through an inlet port, and exhaled air escapes around the neck opening. Hoods can achieve much higher oxygen concentrations than a full tent, reaching 80% to 90%, and they allow nurses and doctors easy access to the rest of the infant’s body for other care.
Full-size tents, used for older children, provide the same humidified and temperature-controlled environment but make it harder to reach the patient. Opening the tent to provide medication, check vitals, or comfort the child lets oxygen escape, temporarily dropping the concentration inside. Both hoods and tents share one notable drawback: they are noisy for the patient, since the sound of flowing gas is amplified inside the enclosure.
Why Oxygen Tents Are Rarely Used Today
Oxygen tents have been largely replaced by more targeted delivery systems. Nasal cannulas, small prongs that sit just inside the nostrils, deliver oxygen directly without enclosing the patient at all. Face masks with reservoir bags can provide higher concentrations. High-flow nasal cannula systems, which became widely adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, push heated and humidified oxygen at high flow rates through nasal prongs, achieving results that once required more cumbersome equipment.
The shift away from oxygen tents happened for several practical reasons. Tents are inefficient because oxygen constantly leaks out, requiring high flow rates to maintain adequate levels inside. Every time a caregiver opens the tent, the oxygen concentration drops and takes time to rebuild. Monitoring the patient is also more difficult through plastic sheeting compared to having direct access. Modern alternatives give clinicians better control over exactly how much oxygen a patient receives, which matters because too much oxygen can be harmful, particularly for premature infants.
Fire Safety Around Supplemental Oxygen
Any environment with elevated oxygen levels carries increased fire risk, and oxygen tents concentrate that risk in an enclosed space. Oxygen itself doesn’t burn, but it makes everything around it ignite more easily and burn faster. In an oxygen-enriched environment, clothing, bedding, hair, and even skin lotions can catch fire from a small spark.
The same precautions that apply to home oxygen therapy apply in amplified form to oxygen tents. No open flames, matches, lighters, or smoking materials should come anywhere near the tent. Petroleum-based products like oil-based lip balms and lotions are especially dangerous because they ignite readily in high-oxygen conditions. Electronic devices and battery-operated toys were traditionally kept out of oxygen tents as a precaution. Oxygen equipment of any kind should stay at least 10 feet from heat sources, including space heaters, candles, and cooking surfaces.
What the Experience Is Like
For a child inside an oxygen tent, the experience is less restrictive than wearing a mask but still unfamiliar. The tent creates a slightly cool, humid environment with a constant hum of flowing gas. Visibility through the plastic is good but not perfect, which can be unsettling for very young children who want to see their parents clearly. Many hospitals allow a parent to sit beside the tent and reach in through openings to hold the child’s hand.
The tent typically stays in place as long as the child needs supplemental oxygen, which varies widely depending on the illness. A child with moderate bronchiolitis might need oxygen support for a few days, while severe pneumonia could require longer treatment. Clinicians monitor oxygen levels using a pulse oximeter clipped to the child’s finger or toe, and they gradually wean the oxygen as the child improves. Once the child can maintain healthy oxygen levels breathing room air, the tent comes off.