To survey the current status of oxygen therapy in a comprehensive hospital in Shanghai and to assess its rationality and standardization.

Cluster sampling method was adopted in selecting in-patients who received oxygen therapy from various departments in Changhai Hospital from March 2018 to June 2018. General information such as gender, age, and department were recorded. The self-developed Oxygen Therapy Form for Inpatients was used to collect clinical data such as admission diagnosis, oxygen therapy indications, oxygen therapy orders, and related parameters. BTS guideline for Oxygen use in adults in Health care and Emergency Settings was used to assess the rationality and standardization of oxygen therapy.

In this survey, 464 patients were assessed for their oxygen treatment orders. According to the guidelines, the overall reasonable rate of oxygen therapy was 92.2% (428/464); the standardization rate of oxygen therapy was 22.4% (104/464). Among them, the reasonable rate of oxygen therapy in internal medicine ward (64.7%, 46/71) was lower than that in surgery ward (98.3%, 304/309) and in wards of other specialties (92.8%, 78/84) (χ²=91.09,P<0.01); while the reasonable rate of general ward (90.9%, 362/398) was lower than that of ICU (100.0%, 66/66) (χ²=6.47, P<0.05). In the standardization assessment, the wards of other specialties (54.8%, 46/84) were better than the internal medicine ward (26.8%, 19/71) and the surgery ward (12.6%, 39/309) (χ²=68.35, P<0.01); while the ICU (65.2%, 43/66) was superior to the general ward (15.3%, 61/398) (χ²=80.81, P<0.01).

The rationality of oxygen therapy in the general hospital is acceptable, but the standardization needs to be improved. There are some differences in the rationality and standardization of oxygen therapy orders among different departments and different levels of wards.

Oxygen inhalation therapy; Cross-sectional studies; Clinical audit