Oxygen Safety
Ensure your patient is connected to oxygen and on the correct flow rate
Include this as part of your bedside checks at handover, and whenever you review the patient
Never Events 2018
Patients given medical air instead of oxygen from wall port.
Medical air wall outlets now capped off. Exceptions = ICU, theatres, selected areas. Capped off air outlets not for clinical use.
Caps should never be removed!
If not requiring oxygen, nebulisers can be driven by bedside air compressors.
Using CD oxygen cylinders safely
Remove the plastic ring pull before use
After removing the ring pull, turn the dial to open
Correct use of oxygen saturation probes:
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If an oximeter probe intended for the finger is attached to the ear (or vice versa), or a probe intended for an adult is attached to a baby or a child (or vice versa), it can produce a reading up to 50% lower or 30% higher than the real value
They are designed to attach to a specific part of body
Not inter-changeable - use the correct probe for correct area or results will not be reliable
Do not attach finger probe to ear or toe!
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Finger oxygen saturation probe
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Ear oxygen saturation probe
Recent study demonstrated that pulse oximeters may be 3-4 times less accurate in patients of colour
Clinical decisions should not be based on pulse oximetry readings alone
Sjoding, Michael W., et al. "Racial bias in pulse oximetry measurement." New England Journal of Medicine 383.25 (2020): 2477-2478
Top tip!
If the patient is oxygen dependent, do not remove oxygen to give a nebuliser via air. Either drive the nebuliser via oxygen or use nasal cannula oxygen under the nebuliser. Monitor saturations.