[featherzwolfcloud]

I was in a chest clinic yesterday and the consultant told me that if a patient has oxygen saturations of 100% on air and they are not in an anxious state then it is too high. It should be 98 or 99 % max and 100% shows that the person is not breathing properly. Has anyone else heard this?

[htrn]

I know that with a COPDer that 100% is not always good. Also neonates with some congenital heart abnormalities need to maintain their fetal circulation until heart surgery to correct the abnormaility - so then they keep the sats REALLY SCARY low!!

[cardiacRN2006]

I've worked in hospitals for 12 years, and every time I've checked my sats, I've always been 100%.

So if I'm breathing improperly, then I must be doing a good job at it....

[sharrie]

I would ask him to explain the phyisiology behind that statement. As someone already mentioned unless specific medical conditions such as COPD or baby with congential hear defects I can't understand his rationale

[Penguin67]

COPD patients are stimulated to breathe by the hypoxic drive, which is why we'll give them O2, but only at small amounts. That's all of the adult physiology that this pediatric nurse can remember!

[PsychNurseWannaBe]

Originally Posted by featherzwolfcloud

I was in a chest clinic yesterday and the consultant told me that if a patient has oxygen saturations of 100% on air and they are not in an anxious state then it is too high. It should be 98 or 99 % max and 100% shows that the person is not breathing properly. Has anyone else heard this?

That doesn't make sense to me...regardless of diagnoses because the person is on room air. How do you breathe differently on RA and how would one decrease a sat if you are simply breathing the air around you?

When you said "on air"... did you mean on room air or on O2?

[aeauooo]

Originally Posted by featherzwolfcloud

if a patient has oxygen saturations of 100% on air and they are not in an anxious state then it is too high.

That sounds pretty ridiculous to me.

Remember the old maxim: treat the patient, not the number.

Unrelated to your question, but suggested by the title of your thread, there are a couple of points to be made regarding oxygen saturation.

1. O2 sat is only one component of oxygen delivery. The others are cardiac output and hemoglobin. A high O2 sat does not necessarily mean the person's tissues are being adequatley oxygenated.

2. O2 saturation does not tell you anything about the person's CO2. 100% oxygen saturation doesn't mean that your patient's CO2 is >50, and by definition, in respiratory failure.

3. Pulse oxymetry cannot distinguish between oxyhemoglobin and carboxyhemoglobin: pulse oximetry is meaningless in carbon monoxide poisoning.

[Jolie]

For patients receiving supplemental oxygen, a saturation of 100% is not desirable, as it indicates that the patient is receiving too much 02, which carries risk of undesirable side-effects, such as retinopathy in the premature infant.

But anyone breating room air with a saturation of 100% is just fine, thank you. What would the good doctor have us do to decrease their 02 sats?

[PsychNurseWannaBe]

Originally Posted by Jolie

For patients receiving supplemental oxygen, a saturation of 100% is not desirable, as it indicates that the patient is receiving too much 02, which carries risk of undesirable side-effects, such as retinopathy in the premature infant.

But anyone breating room air with a saturation of 100% is just fine, thank you. What would the good doctor have us do to decrease their 02 sats?

Put them on supplemental carbon dioxide?? LOL

[cardiacRN2006]

Originally Posted by Jolie

But anyone breating room air with a saturation of 100% is just fine, thank you. What would the good doctor have us do to decrease their 02 sats?

Maybe I could take up smoking??