Training and Knowledge Status of Doctors and Nurses on Oxygen Therapy in a Level Three Hospital-Survey Study

Objective: Oxygen therapy (OT) is the administration of oxygen (O2) at a concentration greater than that found in the atmosphere to prevent the symptoms of hypoxemia. The necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes of the staff while OT may affect the treatment outcomes. In our study, we aimed to determine the training and knowledge status of doctors and nurses working in our university hospital on OT. Methods: The cross-sectional study was completed with 231 participants after ethics committee approval. Data were obtained by hand-completion of questionnaires consisting of 23 questions to volunteer. According to the correct answers given to the questions investigating the level of knowledge, scores >80% were classified as good knowledge level and <60% as poor knowledge level. p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The number of employees reached by the survey was 422 and 85% of nurses and 62% of doctors stated that they had knowledge of OT application. Twenty seven percent of nurses and 42% of doctors were using guidelines for OT. Eighty six percent of doctors and 90% of nurses felt that training for OT was necessary and the most common sources of information were school education. The rate of good knowledge was 9.7% among nurses and 14.3% among doctors (p=0.418). Regarding the expected clinical outcomes of OT, 71% of physicians and 49% of nurses had a good level of knowledge (p<0.001). Sixty four percent of physicians and 86% of nurses (p<0.001) had a poor level of knowledge about lowflow OT and 49% of physicians and 69% of nurses had a poor level of knowledge (p=0.004) about indications for short-term OT. Most of the participants (87.7%) had poor knowledge about O2 toxicity. Conclusion: It was concluded that the majority of healthcare professionals have insufficient knowledge in OT and comprehensive training programs are needed at regular intervals. Keywords: Oxygen therapy, education, information, survey study