Ward-based oxygen therapy audit: Prescribe, target, deliver

Abstract

Drs. Hutchinson and Craik are co-presenting and are joint first authors. <b>Background:</b> British Thoracic Society guidelines state that oxygen should be used to treat hypoxaemia and prescribed to a target saturation range. ^[1] Patients at risk of type 2 respiratory failure should target 88-92%, with the rest 94-98%.This audit aims to identify current practice in Telford9s Princess Royal Hospital compared to the BTS National Audit in 2013. ^[2] <b>Methods:</b> Target standards: 90% of patients receiving oxygen have oxygen prescribed 100% of patients prescribed oxygen have a documented target range 100% of patients have oxygen delivered appropriately to target Data collected on the Respiratory ward from two separate audits in Autumn/Winter 2015. Drug charts and VitalPaC were used as data sources. <b>Results:</b> 70 patients were on oxygen, of which: 61% (n=43 /70) had it prescribed. 95% of those with a prescription (n=41 /43) had a documented target saturation range. 63% of those with a documented range (n=26 /41) were correctly oxygenated to target. <b>Key Messages:</b> We are below the targets for all 3 standards. However, if prescribed, majority would follow good practice of prescription and delivery of oxygen. <b>Recommendations:</b> 1. Use bedside alert cards 2. Educate all staff about oxygen prescription 3. Nominate an Oxygen Champion Nurse 4. Use the #PrescribeTargetDeliver hash-tag to promote awareness 5. Re-audit after above measures. <b>References:</b> [1] O9Driscoll BR, Howard LS, Davison AG; BTS guideline for emergency oxygen use in adult patients; <i>Thorax</i>; June 2008; 63(Suppl VI):vi1–vi68. doi:10.1136/thx.2008.102947 [2] BTS Oxygen Audit 2013; last accessed 21/01/2016: https://www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/document-library/audit-and-quality-improvement/audit-reports/bts-emergency-oxygen-audit-report-2013/