Nursing assessment during oxygen administration in ventilated preterm infants

Abstract

Aim: To document nurses’ opinions about their assessments of oxygen requirements in ventilated preterm infants receiving oxygen supplementation. Methods: Survey design with descriptive statistics. The sample consisted of 111 nurses employed in clinical positions in neonatal intensive care units within Norway’s five regional hospitals. The questionnaire included questions about physiological and clinical observations used when assessing oxygen administration in ventilated preterm infants. Results: A major finding was the gap between the criteria laid down in professional and research literature, vs the criteria nurses perceived they were using when they assessed the oxygen requirements of preterm infants. The respondents stated that they used oxygen saturation to assess the infants’ oxygen requirements when adjusting oxygen supplementation. Only 17% of the nurses used the oxygen‐haemoglobin dissociation curve in their assessments. Those who responded that they used the curve did not use it correctly. Conclusion: Assessment of O2 requirement is based on insufficient information and calls for evaluation of local, national as well as international education. Close collaboration between doctors and nurses is essential in planning care for individual patients.

Impact of Protocol of Care Regarding Childhood Pneumonia on Nurses' Knowledge and Practice

“…This may be due to nurses known the applicable methods in wards not all type may be used and they didn't updated their knowledge regarding oxygen methods. This result goes in the same direction with Solberg et al (2011) in studying nursing assessment during oxygen administration in ventilated infants, who found that the nurses" assessments when adjusting oxygen levels…”

An observational study to quantify manual adjustments of the inspired oxygen fraction in extremely low birth weight infants

“…During a 7‐month period, 833 h of monitored parameters and video recordings were collected. In total, 12 patients (Table S1 in supporting information) were included with a median (range) GA of 26 2 / 7 (24 2 / 7 –28) weeks, BW of 760 (545–935) g and PNA of 4 (2–12) days. Recruitment failed in 46 patients because they did not need supplemental oxygen therapy in the first 2 weeks of life (27), parental refusal (8), imminent death (6) or the experimental set‐up was unavailable (5).…”

“…To prevent tissue damage owing to hypoxaemia or hyperoxia, oxygenation of preterm infants needs to be monitored closely (1). Although there are multiple parameters influencing oxygenation, one of the leading parameters for the assessment of oxygenation is the ‘oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry (SpO 2 )’ (2). When oxygenation of preterm infants is controlled manually by the nursing staff, SpO 2 is frequently outside the target range (3–5).…”

Adherence to oxygenation and ventilation targets in mechanically ventilated premature and sick newborns: a retrospective study

“…Clinical practice with respect to ventilator management, administration of oxygen, and assessment of oxygenation differs greatly among neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) [1,2]. Ventilator treatment exposes newborns to both hyperoxemia and hyperventilation.…”