title: Oxygen prescribing practice at Waikato Hospital does not meet guideline recommendations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is the recommendation of the British Thoracic Society oxygen guidelines and the Waikato Hospital prescribing policy that all supplemental oxygen should be prescribed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this audit was to evaluate the current oxygen prescribing practices on different specialty wards in the Waikato Hospital. The secondary aim was to evaluate potential harm from oxygen toxicity of the patients whose oxygen was not prescribed appropriately.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and twenty inpatients receiving oxygen therapy were randomly selected between December 2012 and April 2013. Forty patients were selected from each of the respiratory, surgical and other medical subspecialty wards. Their medication charts, clinical records and laboratory results were reviewed regarding their oxygen prescription, smoking history, diagnoses of chronic respiratory diseases and previous documentation of type 2 respiratory failure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 51.7% of all the patients audited had correct oxygen prescriptions: 77.5% of respiratory, 52.5% of surgical and 25% of other medical specialities. Among the 50 patients whose oxygen was not prescribed, many were classified as having high risk of potential complications of oxygen toxicity: 44% having known chronic respiratory disease, 70% having smoking history and 16% having previous type 2 respiratory failure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current oxygen prescription rates and practices in Waikato Hospital are not satisfactory and can in turn put patients at risk of oxygen toxicity. There is a significant discrepancy in prescribing practices between specialities. Better education of oxygen prescription is required to raise the awareness and to improve the prescribing practice across the hospital.
authors.affiliation: Respiratory Department, Waikato District Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holbourn
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy / Q000379:methods; D011050:Policy Making; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000628:therapy*; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000628:therapy*; D012955:Societies, Medical
keywords: New Zealand; drug prescription; oxygen