About the HTNA

Welcome to the Hyperbaric Technicians and Nurses Association’s website.  The HTNA is the peak body dealing with Clinical Hyperbaric Nursing and Technical matters in Australia and New Zealand. The HTNA is committed to improving the care given to patients receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and enable care-givers to have the safest environment possible through education.  We do this by providing an avenue of collegiate practice for a multi-disciplinary network of individuals with knowledge and expertise in clinical hyperbaric practice.

We develop, publish and promote training guidelines and educational material in our field.  We also provide continuation training opportunities for our members including a Bi-Monthly Webinar and an Annual Scientific Meeting which has been in operation since 1993.

The objectives of the Association are to:

a. To promote and encourage the exchange of information between members;

b. To standardise practice and protocols within technical and nursing communities affiliated with the Association;

c. To educate and inform the recreational diving industry, particularly to developments that affect safe diving practices;

d. To maintain and uphold the principle that the Association exists to cater for the full range of its membership interests and must never be seen as being sectional in its approach;

e. To abide by the rules promulgated by the provisions of the Associations Incorporation Act 1983 for the benefit and protection of its members, and

f. To encourage hyperbaric research in order to advance the scientific basis of our practice.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a form of therapy where the patient breaths 100% oxygen at increased atmospheric pressure, usually at pressures greater than 1.9 Atmospheres Absolute (90 Kilopascals). This is the only method where oxygen in the tissues can be increased to therapeutic levels. This can only be achieved by exposing the total patient’s to this increased pressure by placing them inside a pressure chamber, usually called a hyperbaric chamber or recompression chamber.
Types of Hyperbaric Chambers: There are two types of ‘clinical’ hyperbaric chambers.
Multiplace chambers are larger chambers where more than one patient is treated at once. The chamber is pressurized with air (21% oxygen) and the patient breathes 100% oxygen via a breathing circuit such as an oxygen hood or an oxygen mask. Multiplace chambers should always have a Nurse Attendant inside the chamber with the patient(s).
Monoplace chambers are single occupancy chambers where only the patient enters the chamber. These chambers are pressurized using 100% oxygen so there is usually no need for an oxygen breathing circuit.
Note: Health professionals consider pressures less than 1.9.ATA, or pressure without oxygen, should not be described as Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, as neither pressure, nor oxygen alone, can deliver the clinical benefit possible with both, combined. There are some who claim clinical benefit by placing a patient in a ‘pressure chamber’ where the pressure is less than 1.9ATA and/or deliver less than 100% oxygen – this should not be regarded as HBOT.