The Resus Room

Oxygen is probably the drug that we give the most but possibly has the least governance over.  More has got to be good except in those at high risk of type II respiratory failure right?? Well as we know the evidence base has swung to challenge that idea in recent years and the new BTS guidelines for Oxygen use in Healthcare and Emergency Settings has just been published with a few things that are worth reviewing since the original publication in 2008. No apologies that this may be predominantly old ground here, this is an area we're all involved with day in and day out that is simple to correct and affects mortality Historically oxygen has been given without prescription; 42% of patients in the 2015 BTS audit had no accompanying prescription When it is prescribed this doesn't always correlate with delivery 1/3 of patients were outside of target SpO2 range (10% below & 22% above) If nothing else is taken from this document then reinforcement of the fact that we need to keep oxygen saturations normal/nea