Assessment of the potential risk of in flight hypoxaemia in patients with cystic fibrosis is often based on a hypoxic challenge where individuals have saturations and/or blood gases taken before and after inspiring 15% normobaric oxygen. The aim of this study was to see if routine clinical measurements could predict the outcome of this test. This was a prospective study comparing the modified 6-min walking test, lung function, body mass index, Northern (N) and Shwachman-Kulczycki (SK) scores with a hypoxic challenge (flight test) in 69 adults attending the Leeds regional CF Unit. Although, there was a significant correlation between post flight test PaO(2) and N score (P=0.003), SK score (P=0.002), FVC % predicted (P=0.01), FEV(1) % predicted (P=0.002), resting saturations (P<0.001), 6 min saturation on walking test (P<0.001) and baseline PaO(2) (P<0.001), no single parameter could accurately predict all patients who desaturated during the flight test. No individual clinical parameter appears to fully predict the need for in flight oxygen but patients most at risk appear to have either a low FEV(1) (<60%), high N score (>13) or low baseline PaO(2) (<10.5 kPa).
S52 Figure 1 Conclusions The body maintains arterial oxygen content within a normal range using well-known erythropoeitic mechanisms in response to hypoxaemia. Despite this feedback mechanism, in patients with pulmonary arteriovenous malformations, overall arterial oxygen content still decreases with age.
BackgroundPeople with chronic health conditions use social media to share experiences and seek advice from peers. Similarly healthcare organisations are using these tools to engage and communicate with patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the opinions of health care professionals on the use, motives and impact of social media used by patients and staff in UK CF centres.MethodsMembers of the Leeds adult CF MDT developed an online survey with 18 core questions relating to social media. The survey was sent to the clinical lead of each CF centre in the UK. The lead was asked to complete the survey and to pass it on to key members of their team to complete. Mixed methods were used with categorical, Likert and free text options.Results66 respondents from 9 professional groups and 19 centres across the UK completed the questionnaire. 16/44 professionals had never used social media and 35/60 reported that their centre had no social media presence. There was belief that social media was having a negative impact on certain aspects of care including spreading inappropriate gossip and in some cases bullying. Only 30.2% of respondents felt social media had a positive impact at their centre in contrast to 73.3% of responders who felt social media had been used in a negative way. Verbal communication, directing individuals to use departmental social media channels and communication of acceptable behaviour to all patients via a website or newsletter were methods shared to deter negative content. Despite their negative experiences many felt social media had the potential to be a positive experience in areas such as communication with patients, education, adherence, peer support, amongst others.ConclusionNegative experiences involving social media use by patients predominate. Different methods to tackle these problems have been adopted. Sharing our experiences and being alert to such problems should help minimise distress in the future. Many potential areas of positive use exist and should be exploited.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.