by RN,@yourCervix

Hi All.......I'm a fairly new OB nurse....I work in a small rural hospital (180 deliveries last year) with a Level 1 nursery......

My question is how does a NICU normally wean a baby off of 02? What is your protocol? What are your parameters? SP02....etc
The doctors at my hospital usually just give us an order to "wean off O2 as tol". Seems as tho' all the nurses here do it different.

I appreciate any input.......

With vented and CPAP babies, we just wean it down until they're on RA. Then we work on weaning the rate and pressure. Sat parameters are usually around 88-95% with preemies and >94% or so with term. Hoods we wean the O2 down and then try taking it off around 25-30% FiO2.

With NC we wean the O2 down if they are on high flow NC (>0.5 L), then switch to low flow NC (<250cc) of 100% and wean the flow down until they are on 25cc. Then we try to either take the NC off or wean the O2 down to 40 or 50% and then take the NC off. We don't wean the O2 much below 40 or 50% when they're on 25cc because we believe that the prongs occlude the nares and the end result is less ability to breathe with O2 lower than 40 or 50%.

Is this the same "at_your_cervix" or....?

Our "weaners" are usuallly at 21% by the time the docs order them off. So I take 'em to a half liter for an hour or so and if they tolerte it I take them off.