Abstract
Mbamalu et al’s study (vol 68(3), 2007, p. 156) showed poor knowledge of oxygen (O2) therapy among senior house officers. Two clinical scenarios involving hypoxic patients were presented; one with uncompensated acute respiratory acidosis and another with hypercapnic (type 2) respiratory failure. Respondents were deemed correct in treating the first patient with a high concentration of O2 (FiO2), but incorrect if they did so for the second. The explanation that in patients with type 2 respiratory failure ‘there is a definite risk of suppression of the hypoxic drive … with the resultant development of carbon dioxide (CO2) narcosis in the presence of higher inspired oxygen concentrations’ is worthy of comment.
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