Question

Lucy Lu is a 77-year-old Asian patient who is admitted to the surgical unit after a colon resection this morning. She has not been in the hospital before and is accompanied by her 80-year-old husband and her two daughters. Mrs. Lu has been in the United States for 30 years and speaks fluent English. She still values her Asian heritage. Her health has been deteriorating lately because of chronic bronchitis and stable angina. She smokes 1½ packs of cigarettes per day. She is 10 lb underweight for her height.

Jim Stone is a 24-year-old senior nursing student and has been assigned to care for Mrs. Lu postoperatively. He takes her vital signs upon return from the postanesthesia unit: blood pressure is 110/58 mm Hg, temperature is 99.8° F orally, pulse is 112 beats/min, respirations are 32 breaths/min, and Pulse O2 reading of 92%. He asks her to rate her pain, and she states that it is a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. She has a patient-controlled analgesia pump. Her surgical dressing is dry and intact.

Jim decides to check with the primary nurse and see if he can start administering oxygen to Mrs. Lu. The nurse tells Jim that it would be good. What is the preferred method of oxygen administration for this patient and why?

Answer 1

The preferred method of oxygen administration for this patient is nasal cannula at a rate of 2-4 l/min and titrated to achieve target SPO2. Nasal cannula is preferred because the present SPO2 is 92 % , in patients who does not have and respiratory failure or disease oxygen therapy is not required with SPO2 of 92% , but Mrs Lu is a patient of chronic bronchitis so ,to maintain the saturation and the respiratory drive oxygen is provided through nasal cannula at lower flow rate.