Pediatric Emergency Patients: A Standard But Underrated Therapy

The early and aggressive use of oxygen in the man-agement of children in the emergency department isgenerally well known and considered by many per-sons to be a standard of practice. However, reports of patients transferred to one children’s hospital emergency department revealed that oxygen was not administered quickly to children in emergency departments of hospitals that did not specialize in treating children. This finding led to the development of a survey that found that differences existed in the likelihood that oxygen was provided for chil-dren with respiratory problems after triage and independent of physician evaluation. Specifically, nurses in children’s hos-pitals were significantly more likely to provide oxygen for children than were emergency nurses in non-children’s hos-pitals (Attia M, Herrman J, Cronan K. Nursing scope of practice in pediatric emergency services. Unpublished study, 1993). The results of this survey led us to wonder: Is oxyge