Oxygen flow: How much do we know?

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Since the advent of Covid, oxygen has been the centre of discussion despite being the most important entity for the survival of human life. As various modes of its delivery has been in practice for a long time, using the non-rebreather mask has been a part of most guidelines for emergencies and hypoxia. This requires a higher flowrate of up to 15 l/min. Most flowmeters can deliver upto 75 l/min over the maximum calibrated mark.1 What may appear as a small rise from the maximum labelled mark can deliver more oxygen than required and result in wastage of oxygen or hide the severity of the patient's condition. Using this audit/ QIP we are trying to determine if the flowrates delivered are as per the prescription/protocol. Aim(s) To find out if the oxygen administration when it is prescribed at 15L/min is at the prescribed value and therefore quantify the amount of oxygen that is being wasted. Method(s) Data was collected randomly, observing the flow rates that the patients were receiving as prescribed or over the prescribed rate for those on non rebreather mask. Result(s) 54 observations were recorded from ED, ITU, AMU and theatre recovery across two hospitals. It was found that 57.4% of the patients were on flowrates more than the prescribed value. Conclusion & Discussion: More than half the patients requiring high flow rate of oxygen were on rates more than prescribed. This is potentially due to the lack of understanding of the calibration of the flowmeter. This results in the wastage of oxygen causing significant financial loss and an increase in the carbon dioxide emission impacting the environmental pollution. We plan to run an educational intervention for staff in these departments to emphasise the importance of administering drugs (including oxygen) as they are prescribed, and how easy it is to over administer oxygen.