Pulse oximetry; knowledge among medical students and nursing staff

ABSTRACT

Pulse oximetry has emerged as a clinical tool in anesthesia and is becoming popular in developing countries. Unfortunately, its use is usually not accompanied by appropriate staff training. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge about pulse oximetry among the 7th year medical student Interns [MS] and nursing staff [NS] of Intensive Care Unit [ICU], Coronary Care Unit [CCU] and Recovery Room [RR] of four medical-school affiliated hospitals in Shiraz, Iran. Feb 2001- Feb 2002. A 14-item questionnaire [4 demographic and 10 knowledge], multiple-choice and open ended, was developed to assess knowledge of pulse oximetry. Among 150 7th year medical students and 200 nursing staff, 40 from each group was randomly selected and invited to complete the questionnaire. A 100% response rate was achieved. All of the participants used pulse oximetry regularly in their daily work. The mean test scores for MS and NS were 60.5 +/- 21 and 49 +/- 17%, respe ctively [p < 0.05]. None of the participants had adequate training in the use of pulse oximetry. Our study revealed that medical students and staff nurses were untrained in pulse oximetry, lacked knowledge of basic principles, and made serious errors in interpretation of readings. Therefore, we recommend that medical schools and nurse training programs place emphasis on teaching the principles and applications of pulse oximetry and the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve