The impact of the use of continuous pulse oximetry monitoring to monitor patients at high risk of respiratory depression on nursing practice

Abstract

Abstract Aim To describe the impact on nursing practice of using continuous pulse oximetry monitoring to monitor patients at high risk for respiratory depression after surgery. Design A convergent mixed method design. Methods Thirty (30) hours of non‐participant structured observation and explanatory interviews were conducted with 10 nurses from the surgery care unit and intensive care unit. Results We found that nursing practice to evaluate and monitor at‐risk patients through continuous pulse oximetry monitoring is mainly linked to technical care. Nurses generally meet the frequency of bedside monitoring required by established protocols. During the structured non‐participant observation periods, it was observed that 90% of the alarms were false (unsustained desaturations). This was confirmed by the nurses during the explanatory interviews. Noisy environments, high number of false alarms, poor communication between nurses and various operational failures might have a negative impact on nursing practice. Conclusion Several challenges must be overcome for this technology to achieve the desired outcomes of continuous surveillance and rapid detection of respiratory depression episodes for post‐surgical patients. No Patient or Public Contribution.

Keywords

• nurse surveillance
• nursing practice
• oximetry
• postoperative monitoring
• respiratory depression