Do you admister oxygen on your floor to a pt complaing of chest pain?

Nurses General Nursing

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I just have a questions that has been bothered me for a long time..Many nursing books talk about performing basic nursing interventions for a chest pain such as oxygen,beta-blocker,nitro (I guess I'm refering to the angina protocol here) I was wondering if some of the interventions are only specific to an ER such as a beta blocker,oxygen or asprin,I'm slightly confused I guess since when I used to work on a step-down unit when ever we used to get a chest pain patient they just gave nitro but I havent see the oxygen,beta-blocker or aspirin for that matter.I also read in the textbook that oxygen should be given as first line defense.

It doesn't mean that they are ignorant- it just means that they know no better.

No one ever listens or wins in a heated argument anyways. Try teaching them calmly and if you have to, back it up with supporting facts and not because, "I said so.". ( if that is the way of things).

When I say ignorant, I mean just that. A person who does not know better. I did not say stupid, just ignorant.

Depends. Arguments are often heated when somebody challenges dogma, even when evidence is presented. However, we often go home and research the points following the discussion. I learned about this myth after an EMT called me out for giving him a hard time over his management of a COPD patient. An argument followed ( discussion is a better term) and I learned something. Just like that EMT, I am not keen on having people challenge my management of a patient without a valid argument. Yelling that I'm killing my patient with oxygen is hardly a good argument, and to this day people are yelled at on occasion.

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Specializes in ER/ICU/Flight.

Gila,

I've had the exact same arguments (or discussions, rather) about COPD and O2 delivery. Even patients in failure, someone will point out to "remember their hypoxic drive". So you actually have arguments with nurses in the ER when you bring someone in about giving them too much oxygen?? Sorry, I haven't had an encounter like that in over 14 years.

And I'm glad to see someone else who understands the difference between ignorant and stupid.

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It doesn't mean that they are ignorant- it just means that they know no better.

According to Websters, ignorant means "lacking knowledge or comphrension of the thing specified."

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It can lower blood pressure in some cases, but this is much less likely with fentanyl compared to a medication like morphine.

Just make sure the patient doesn't have COPD if you go above 2l.

"Why? Trust me when I say the patient will not suddenly stop breathing, loose their head, and have their cyanotic head roll down the hallway to spontaneously combust in the med room if you give more than 2 LPM. I understand this is contrary to the horror stories nursing instructors tell nursing students before tucking the said students into bed for the night. If these instructors knew any better, they would be teaching reality instead of continuing to produce new nurses educated to loose the plot over the hypoxic drive scarecrow.

Sorry, to this day I continue to have heated arguments with ignorant ER nurses over my management of patients who happen to have a COPD diagnosis somewhere in their chart."

Had a patient come in to ER last night with pneumonia and a history of COPD and spo2 was 66% on RA. Tried 4L of O2 first but that only got him to 88%. Bumped him to 6L and he fluctuated between 90 and 93%. Kept him on 6L until he went to the floor, approx. 3-4 hours. No problems.

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