Cronicon OPEN ACCESS EC EMERGENCY MEDICINE AND CRITICAL CARE Mini Review Supplemental Oxygen: Use it Conservatively and Judiciously for the Management of Patient Piryani Rano Mal 1* and Piryani Suneel 2 1 Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief Coordinator- Health Professions Training Committee, Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhai- rahawa, Nepal 2 Research Specialist, Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Citation: Piryani Rano Mal and Piryani Suneel. “Supplemental Oxygen: Use it Conservatively and Judiciously for the Management of Patient”. EC Emergency Medicine and Critical Care 3.6 (2019): 358-361. *Corresponding Author: Piryani Rano Mal, Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief Coordinator- Health Professions Training Committee, Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhairahawa, Nepal. Received: April 08, 2019; Published: May 28, 2019 Abstract Oxygen is one of the most extensively used drugs in hospital settings in a wide range of medical specialties for the treatment purpose. Supplemental oxygen as a therapy is recommended for all the patients with acute hypoxemia and for the patients who are at risk of developing hypoxemia. Like any other drug, oxygen has indications, contraindications, dosage, toxic effects, route of administration, methods of delivery etc. Hence, it must be prescribed by medical practitioner and administered and monitored by well-trained healthcare professionals. The results of studies support the conservative use of supplemental oxygen rather than its liberal use. The harmful effects of it depend on underlying conditions, duration, and degree of the hyperoxic exposure. Always consider and use oxygen as a drug and use it conservatively and judiciously for the management of hypoxemic patient. Keywords: Hypoxemia; Hyperoxia; Supplemental Oxygen Introduction Oxygen is a gas. It is a fundamental element for the survival of human beings. It plays a key role in a varied range of biological and physiological processes in the human body [1]. It is most commonly used drug in emergency medicine, intensive care and ward settings. There are misconceptions about its use like it relieves dyspnea, one can give too much oxygen. Also, there are issues such as poor prescribing practices [2]. It is often administered to the patient at care givers discretion [3]. Objective of the Study The objective of this mini review is to convey the healthcare givers to prescribe and use oxygen conservatively and judiciously. Methodology The articles were searched surfing the google search engine. The keyword used for search were oxygen therapy; supplemental oxygen; oxygen as a drug; use of oxygen; toxicity of oxygen; oxygen use in emergency; oxygen therapy guidelines; and oxygen use in critical care. The original articles, review articles and guidelines were searched using mentioned key words published in last 10 years. The ten years limitation was based on the objective of the study how use of supplemental oxygen has updated in last decade. All downloaded articles were studied; among them 20 articles (including original, review and guidelines) selected for reference. Later on, three articles selected from references of chosen article, downloaded, studied and included.