TY - JOUR T1 - An audit of oxygen prescribing practices in a district general hospital JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 40 IS - Suppl 56 SP - P2884 AU - Anna Szulc AU - Richard Berry AU - S. Fayyaz Hussain Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P2884.abstract N2 - Introduction: Oxygen is a drug and should be prescribed. Yet the attitudes about oxygen prescription are extremely different to that of other prescription only medications. We wished to evaluate that a) correct prescription was filled out for patients receiving oxygen in hospital and b) in patients with COPD oxygen saturation (SpO2) was maintained at 88-92%(1).Methods: On a single day in January 2012 all patients on 14 wards (medical and surgical) were observed for supplemental oxygen therapy. All patients receiving oxygen therapy had their prescription charts and clinical notes assessed for quality of the oxygen prescription and presence of COPD.Results: Out of a total of 259 patients seen, 51 (19.6%) were on oxygen. Of these 21 (41%) patients had the oxygen prescribed correctly. Thirteen patients were diagnosed to have COPD; in 6 (46%) the actual bedside oxygen saturations matched the correct safe target set by BTS guideline, but in only 3 (23%) the target oxygen saturations was correctly specified.Conclusions: This audit highlights significant gaps in oxygen prescribing in secondary care. Almost half of COPD patients receiving supplemental oxygen remain at risk of oxygen toxicity. Education of doctors and nurses on oxygen prescription should be reinforced regularly.1) BTS guideline for emergency oxygen use in adult patients. B R O'Driscoll et al. British Thoracic Society. Thorax 2008;63(Suppl VI):vi1–vi68. ER -