TY - JOUR T1 - Can education and electronic prescription improve the use oxygen in acute clinical settings? JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p1314 AU - Gareth Ebbon AU - Ajit Thomas AU - Shiva Bikmalla AU - Asad Ali AU - Vikas Punamiya AU - Ben Beauchamp AU - Rahul Mukherjee Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p1314.abstract N2 - Introduction: Recent data on effects of hyperoxia in patients with coronary artery disease, brain injury [1] and post resuscitation patients [2] have shown increased mortality and morbidity. This calls for efforts to reduce unnecessary oxygen use in hospitals, which we instituted via targeted multidisciplinary education and widening the use of electronic prescription of oxygen between 2008 and 2010.Method: Cross-sectional point prevalence of oxygen prescribing practice was audited at our teaching hospital in November 2008 and November 2010 excluding Intensive care, paediatric and maternity wards. Between the 2 oxygen audits, we widened and improved electronic prescribing with a multidisciplinary training program on oxygen use for all caregivers.Results: At the Nov 2010 point of data collection, 185/1267 (15%) patients were on oxygen. Of these a clear valid oxygen prescription was noted in 149 (81%); 46% of saturations documented were within target range. The proportion of patients in hospital receiving oxygen had reduced from 28% (191/666) since 2008; the presciption rate improved from 57% to 81%.Conclusion: With the focus on education, increased awareness through local and national alerts and electronic prescriptions of oxygen, we have noted almost halving of in-hospital oxygen use and higher rates of oxygen prescription. There is however room for improvement in adherence to target oxygen saturation.References:1. Jancin B. Hyperoxia may be harmful in traumatic brain injury. Elsevier Global Medical News (19th December 2006).2. Kilgannon et al. Association between Arterial Hyperoxia Following Resuscitation from Cardiac Arrest and In-Hospital Mortality. JAMA 2010; 303(21):2165-2171. ER -