EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Nursing Issues O2/Air flowmeter confusion

Can I check what precautions do other hospitals have in place to stop incorrect selection of O2 and Air flowmeters?

I know colour coding should be a big clue and that Therapy equipment produce an air guard for their flowmeters, but does anybody have any other precautions apart from locking the air flow meters in a cupboard?

Hello Chris

You could follow the guidance in this document (Action 4):
Implementing the Rapid Response Report 'Oxygen Safety in Hospitals'

Failing that, adopt the Belt & Braces approach, Air flowmeters removed from clinical areas.

Chris,

We use the Therapy air guards on all off our air flowmeters, after a very disappointing discovery that clinical staff cannot tell black from white.

We also have a trust wide policy that states:
'Continue to ensure that the flow meters are removed from the wall outlet and stored in an allocated place when not in use.'

We have also recently had issues with incorrect selection of suction for use in emergency, when a Thoracic device was used, instead of the High suction required, again these devices are clearly colour coded.

So perhaps there is no hope and the basic training of clinical staff is what needs reviewing. As there are some issues that even the greatest technicians cannot solve!

Yet more "guidelines" ... and (no doubt) "lessons that shall need to be learned" (but still haven't been - and probably never will)?

I thought all our lovely nurses had degrees these days!


Yes; indeed.

Thanks for the info, they tried removing the air flowmeters but still they come out of a cupboard and get mixed up.

You would have thought the design on the terminal would have also been a clue but it doesn't seem so.

Will probably suggest going down the air guard route, but you'd have thought there's be a few solutions out there by now.

I over heard a senior nurse in a lift complaining that the connections on the flowmeters needed to be different, after an incident occurred in our Trust.
I was thinking to myself, you mean apart from one being black and the other white, large notices stuck on the wall next to the air points and having to move the air guard to connect the hose.
Belt, braces and a piece of string but there is always someone else to blame for your stupidity.
Robert

FYI Oxylitre also supply air guards, in fact their air flowmeters now come with them as standard. Ultimately "stupid is as stupid does" - online definition: It means that an intelligent person who does stupid things is still stupid. You are what you do.

Surely the AirGuard is a far too cheap and simple "solution"? We only want expensive "high-tech" solutions here.

How about a personalised oxygen meter for each nurse? Surely there must be an "app for that"?

If it's the high-tech you are after Geoff, then surely some sort of proximity sensor attached to the gas outlets/flowmeters setting off an alarm, flashing lights whenever anyone approaches them. As well as automatically sending the current hospital guidelines for delivery of medical air/oxygen to their smartphone and updating their social media accounts with a second by second account of what they are doing?

Darkmaster, you could have the jingle from 'Family Fortunes' beep out everytime they try to insert the wrong flowmeter.