Early use of oxygen in pediatric emergency patients: A standard but underrated therapy

Abstract

The early and aggressive use of oxygen in the management of children in the emergency department is generally well known and considered by many persons to be a standard of practice. However, reports of patients transferred to one children's hospital emergency department revealed that oxygen was not administered quickly to children in emergency departments of hospitals that did not specialize in treating children. This finding led to the development of a survey that found that differences existed in the likelihood that oxygen was provided for children with respiratory problems after triage and independent of physician evaluation.