Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
-
Appropriate resuscitation of hypoxic patients is fundamental in emergency admissions. To achieve this, it is standard practice of ambulance staff to administer high concentrations of oxygen to patients who may be in respiratory distress. A proportion of patients with chronic respiratory disease will become hypercapnic on this. ⋯ These data support the usability of such a scheme to prevent iatrogenic hypercapnia in emergency admissions.