Routine oxygen administration in the PACU : should everybody receive it? : letter to editor

Extracted from text ... Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia & Analgesia ? May/June 2006 72 LETTER TO EDITOR The routine use of supplemental oxygen in the postanaesthesia care unit (PACU) has traditionally been used to minimize the incidence of hypoxaemia.1 However, with the introduction of pulse oximetry, we sought to find out if routine postoperative administration of oxygen was necessary and which group/s of patients should receive supplemental oxygen in the postanaesthesia care unit if necessary. Sixty-six patients that had various surgical procedures were involved in this observational study. Without altering routine PACU care, oxygen saturations were noted from arrival in to discharge from ..