Chest
Clinical InvestigationsSubjective Effects of Humidification of Oxygen for Delivery By Nasal Cannula: A Prospective Study
Section snippets
Hospital Survey
Hospitals listed in the American Hospital Association Guide to Hospitals9 as having between 575 and 625 beds were contacted by telephone. The director of the hospital's respiratory therapy department, or other knowledgable individual in the department, was asked about departmental policies for humidification of oxygen for delivery by nasal cannula. In those departments in which oxygen was not routinely humidified for all such patients, departmental criteria for selection of patients to receive
Hospital Survey
The results of the telephone survey are presented in Table 2. There was wide variability in the policies for routine oxygen humidification. In nearly half of the hospitals surveyed, all patients received humidified nasal oxygen, and only three hospitals did not routinely humidify nasal oxygen for at least some patients. Twenty-five of the 30 hospitals in which oxygen was not routinely humidified cited recent evidence indicating lack of justification.5, 6
Patient Complaints
Figure 1 shows complaints, by type, of
DISCUSSION
The results of our telephone survey indicated that respiratory therapy departments in medium-sized American hospitals vary widely with regard to their policies for routine humidification of nasal oxygen. Of 55 hospitals surveyed, nearly half humidified oxygen for all patients and most of the remainder delivered humidified oxygen to patients receiving oxygen flow rates in excess of 2-4 L/min. Only three surveyed hospitals did not routinely humidify nasal cannula oxygen at all. By the nature of
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank Dennis Gelgut, R.R.T., for assisting with the hospital survey, Alexander Scott Kennedy for computer data input, and Phyllis Burch, C.R.T.T., for medical records research. We also appreciate the suggestions of Dr. R. M. Senior during the preparation of this manuscript.
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Supported in part by USPHS Grant No. HL30341 and by The Council for Tobacco Research, U.S.A., Inc.
Manuscript received June 1; revision accepted July 17.