Misconception on oxygen administration among patients and their caregivers in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

Appropriate oxygen administration is a life-saving therapy; however, patients and their caregivers could decline such therapy for several reasons. Poor perceptions may delay consent to oxygen therapy. There is a lack of data on the perception of oxygen use among patients and caregivers in our setting. Hence, this study was aimed at evaluating the perception of patients and their caregivers toward emergency oxygen use in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria.

This survey was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted between December 2017 and May 2018 at a tertiary hospital in southwestern Nigeria. We administered a structured questionnaire to 334 eligible patients and their 539 caregivers while on admission.

A significant proportion of the patients compared to their caregivers have had oxygen therapy in the past 40.6% versus. 6.9% P < 0.0001. The majority of the participants (patients vs. caregivers 84.7% vs. 81.1% P = 0.511) believed oxygen therapy to be beneficial and safe for use (patients vs. caregivers 79.4% vs. 78.6%; P = 0.8949). However, 21.1% of patients and 19.5% of caregivers believed it is solely for terminally ill patients. More than 50% of patients and caregivers thought oxygen can cause adverse effects and fire outbreaks. Most of the respondents considered oxygen therapy as expensive (patients vs. caregivers; 78.2% vs. 87.2%; P = 0.0176) which was regarded as a possible barrier to treatment (patients vs. caregivers 81.9% vs. 85.0% P = 0.3893). <1% of both patients and their caregivers have had any form of training in basic life support.

The misconceptions about oxygen use require urgent attention by raising community awareness and knowledge toward improving the acceptability of this life-saving intervention.