A study of attitudes, beliefs and organisational barriers related to safe emergency oxygen therapy for patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in clinical practice and research
O'Driscoll, B. Ronan Bakerly, Nawar D. Caress, Ann-Louise Roberts, June Gaston, Miriam Newton, Mark Yorke, Janelle
O'Driscoll, B. Ronan
Bakerly, Nawar D.
Caress, Ann-Louise
Roberts, June
Gaston, Miriam
Newton, Mark
Yorke, Janelle
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Abstract
Background: Patients can be harmed by receiving too
little or too much oxygen. There is ongoing disagreement
about the use of oxygen in medical emergencies.
Methods: This was a mixed methods study (survey,
telephone interviews and focus groups) involving
patients, the public and healthcare professionals (HCPs).
Results: 62 patients with chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD), 65 members of the public,
68 ambulance crew members, 22 doctors, 22 nurses
and 10 hospital managers took part. For five factual
questions about oxygen therapy, the average score for
correct answers was 28% for patients with COPD, 33%
for the general public and 75% for HCPs. The HCPs
had an average score of 66% for five technical
questions. Patients (79%) and members of the public
(68%) were more likely than HCPs (36%) to believe
that oxygen was beneficial in most medical
emergencies and less likely to have concerns that it
might harm some people (35%, 25% and 68%). All
groups had complex attitudes about research into
oxygen use in medical emergencies. Many participants
would not wish for themselves or their loved ones to
have their oxygen therapy determined by a randomised
protocol, especially if informed consent was not
possible in an emergency situation.
Conclusions: We have found low levels of factual
knowledge about oxygen use among patients with
COPD and the general public and many false beliefs
about the potential benefits and harms of using
oxygen. HCPs had a higher level of factual knowledge.
All groups had complex attitudes towards research into
emergency oxygen use.
https://bmjopenrespres.bmj.com/content/bmjresp/3/1/e000102.full.pdf
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjresp-2015-000102