is oxygen considered a medication?.. what do you think?

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i hear some people say it is, and the other half say it isn't. what do you nurses think? for example 2L oxygen via nasal cannula is that considered a medication?

I've been taught that a dr's order is needed to administer osygen. If the patient's stats are low, we can give it then call the dr. for the order. It would be a sad thing to have a patient deteriorate because of not being able to get a hold of the dr. for the necessary treatment.

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I've been taught that a dr's order is needed to administer osygen. If the patient's stats are low, we can give it then call the dr. for the order. It would be a sad thing to have a patient deteriorate because of not being able to get a hold of the dr. for the necessary treatment.

I wonder if that's a Canada vs. America thing.....because I've never had to wait for a Doc's order to give a patient Oxygen when I'm working in a hospital. We have protocols in place already, so don't need the doc's order.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.
I wonder if that's a Canada vs. America thing.....because I've never had to wait for a Doc's order to give a patient Oxygen when I'm working in a hospital. We have protocols in place already, so don't need the doc's order.

ah, the protocol IS the doctor's order: that's what protocols are

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just learned this in school the other day. oxygen is consider a drug therapy since a doctor's order is required. If the pt has a O2 NC order and is not wearing it at the time the O2 sat is low, then yes....you need to put it on the pt immediately.

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Classmates and I brought this question to an instructor in class one day and here's how she explained it to us. Let's say you have a patient with COPD. Their normal O2 sat is around 90%, and even though we're trained that it need to be kept over 95%, you could NOT administer that much O2 to this patient because their body has adapted to lower concentrations of O2 and if you put them on a full blown O2 mask, you are changing the rate of O2/CO2 exchange and lessening their body's natural instinct to breathe, so their breathing weakens...NOT GOOD. This is just an example, I know...but it's always helped me remember that O2 is a drug for a reason.

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Interestingly my colleagues and I were discussing just this issue today. JC does not consider oxygen a drug and neither does our state (Washington). We are now questioning this and plan to bring it to our nurse practice council. The Director of Pharmacy is also questoning this.

I am reading a lot of circular definitions on this site, "If I have to have an order it must be a drug." reasoning that does not hold up to scrutiny.

I am not, by any means saying that oxygen should be used willy nilly - but neither should positioning which can affect the patient's condition - but that does not require an order.

Interesting dialogue.

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A drug, broadly speaking, is anything that affects physiological functioning. In pharmacology, a drug is defined as anything which is used in the treatment, prevention, cure or diagnosis of illness. So in both definitions, i'd say that yes, O2 is a drug. I think it's also best practice to think of it this way as, like all drugs, they can have side effects and we need to always be thinking of that bigger picture. But, i'm a student and therefore full of idealism and theory and not yet in the real world! ;) Feel free to debate me!

Good answer!!! :smokin: :up: :D

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Many substabnces and treatments are involved in the care of the patient and many are clearly pharmaceuticals - one end of the spectrum. At the other end of the spectrum we have itmes, substances, treatments that are clearly do not fall into this category - water, positioning, the air that we breathe (21% oxygen). So the question remains - where does oxygen fall? Divers and other used compressed gases - they do not require a prescription. Nurses - way back, were not "allowed" to take blood pressures, call blood blood when they saw it (it was to be called a red substance coming from the patient's body as we were not "capable of know it is blood"). So at what point do we say - not a drug that always need guidance?

Let the debate range on.

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The definition of a medication is a substance administered for the diagnosis, cure, treatment or relief of a symptom or for the prevention of a disease according to Kozier's Fundamentals of Nursing. Oxygen is a substance (a gas) that is used to treat hypoxia or an acute respiratory disorder, therefore it is a medication.

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So using that logic salt water gargle is a drug as it used for a relief of a symptom. It is a substance and it relieves a symptom.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

It is considered a medication. It is a gas. This type of gas will kill someone if administered in the wrong dose or method.

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Too much water will give you water intoxication and hyponatremia. Is water a medication? Steam is water in gas form - does that make it a medication?

Volley back to you.

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