A COMPARISON OF OXYGEN ADMINISTRATION PRACTICES OF EMTS AND EMERGENCYPHYSICIANS

This study examined whether emergency medical technicians (EMTs) withh old oxygen from hypothetical patients whom emergency physicians would treat with high flow oxygen, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonar y disease (COPD) patients, A survey describing 12 hypothetical patient s was distributed to 33 emergency physicians, 30 newly trained EMTs, a nd 27 experienced EMTs, For each patient, the respondents were asked t o identify the most appropriate prehospital oxygen administration rate as ''low flow'' or ''high flow.'' Using an alpha value of .05, chi(2) analysis was used to compare the frequency of high flow oxygen admini stration for the three groups, Newly trained EMTs were significantly m ore likely than physicians to administer high-flow oxygen to patients with COPD who were not receiving home oxygen, Otherwise, the oxygen ad ministration practices of EMTs were not inconsistent with those of eme rgency physicians. Copyright (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company.