An audit of oxygen supplementation in a large tertiary hospital – we should treat oxygen as any other drug

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To examine the current state of practice of oxygen (O2) supplementation in adults hospitalized in a tertiary hospital admitted to medical-surgical floors.

Methods: We recorded: the proportion of patients on O2; their peripheral O2 saturation (SpO2); if the SpO2 was within, above, or below the target range; if patients had an order for O2 supplementation and a target SpO2 range.

Results: Among 811 hospitalized patients, 153 (19%) were on supplemental O2. Forty-nine percent were in the recommended range, 55% above, and 1% below. All patients with COPD on O2 supplementation had a SpO2 of more than 92% exposing them to the risk of hypercarbia. Only 43% of patients on oxygen had an associated order and only 52% of patients with an O2 order had an order for a goal SpO2 range.

Conclusions: Our results demonstrate widespread hyperoxia among hospitalized patients and that oxygen, a very common therapy, is being administered frequently without any written order. These findings highlight the opportunity to implement safe prescribing measures for O2, similar to other prescribed medications.

KEYWORDS:

• Oxygenation
• hypoxia
• hyperoxia
• implementation
• conservative oxygen therapy

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No funding was received in the preparation of this paper.

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The contents of the paper and the opinions expressed within are those of the authors, and it was the decision of the authors to submit the manuscript for publication.

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Acknowledgments

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Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.