Chair: Susan S. Jacobs RN, MS
The purpose of this Oxygen Interest Group is to identify problems and solutions related to the provision of supplemental home oxygen therapy. In May 2015, the Nursing Assembly Planning Committee prioritized oxygen as an issue to address as a result of increasing problems noted by patient home oxygen users as well as by clinicians. To address those needs, in the fall of 2016, Susan Jacobs RN, MS, Chair of the Nursing Assembly Planning Committee, started an Oxygen Working Group and coordinated the development of a "Patient Supplemental Oxygen Survey'. In September 2016 the survey was placed online on the ATS PAR website, as well as on multiple other professional and patient advocacy websites, and drew 1926 responses. The results of the survey confirmed the presence of frequent and varied problems experienced by supplemental home oxygen users. Two late-breaking abstracts from this survey data were presented at the ATS May 2017 meeting and a manuscript summarizing the results is under preparation for publication. In addition to the important findings of the Oxygen Survey, the proceedings from the 2017 ATS multidisciplinary workshop "Optimizing Home Oxygen Therapy", co-chaired by Susan Jacobs and David Lederer, defined the hallmarks of optimal home oxygen therapy, the existing barriers to optimal home oxygen therapy, and proposed solutions to overcome those barriers from the perspective of the patient, the clinician, the payer, and the lobbyist/advocacy organization. The oxygen survey results, combined with the multi-disciplinary workshop proceedings, provide a significant platform to propose strategic advocacy and lobbying efforts, improve home oxygen therapy educational resources, and identify evidence gaps and propose areas for future investigation and actionable items. The purpose of this group will be to carry this important work forward.
Goals and Objectives
The goals are related to the proceedings of the May 2016 "Optimizing Home Oxygen Therapy" ATS Workshop which are anticipated to be submitted for publication by the end of 2017 and include:
- Implementation of strategic advocacy and lobbying efforts by working with PAR and other ATS outreach efforts.
- Development of home oxygen therapy educational documents for patients and healthcare providers.
- Investigation of:
- adherence to oxygen therapy
- symptom and exercise capacity benefit
- equipment differences and impact on mobility
- re-testing of oxygen requirements and impact on appropriateness of oxygen use, especially in the post-hospital discharge patients other areas that arise out of the published oxygen workshop proceedings or oxygen survey results.