Oxygen Prescribing Audit

Free projects are complete and ready to use. Paid projects can also be adapted to your local requirements. This project uses a fixed Lazomis clinical configuration of 22 audit criteria across prescription and target range, hypercapnic risk and oxygen scale, device, flow and administration documentation, monitoring and review, escalation and specialist review, weaning, discontinuation and ongoing plan, and handover, transfer and discharge communication. Data collection, dashboards, findings, improvement planning, re-audit and every output are included at no cost.

• Foundation Doctors and Internal Medicine Trainees
• Respiratory and Acute Medicine teams
• Ward nursing, physiotherapy and pharmacy teams
• Governance and Audit leads

• Measure oxygen prescription and target saturation range documentation
• Assess hypercapnic risk consideration, device, flow and administration records
• Review monitoring against target, escalation, senior or respiratory review and weaning
• Generate governance-ready evidence and safer handover or discharge oxygen plans

• Anonymised case identifier
• Care setting, oxygen-use context and target saturation context
• Prescription, device, flow and administration documentation
• Monitoring, escalation, review, weaning and transfer or discharge oxygen plan

• Live dashboard
• Audit report (Word)
• Executive summary (Word)
• Excel workbook
• PowerPoint presentation
• Conference poster
• ARCP evidence summary

This ready-built project is developed using the guidance, standards and authoritative sources listed below, so you can see what is being measured and why. Lazomis QI does not publish or own this guidance, and inclusion here does not imply endorsement or approval by any of these organisations.

• British Thoracic Society

  Guideline for oxygen use in adults in healthcare and emergency settings(opens the original source in a new tab)

  National guidance on prescribing oxygen, target saturation ranges, controlled oxygen in people at risk of hypercapnic respiratory failure, delivery devices, monitoring, review and weaning.

• NICE

  NG115: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in over 16s(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Applies where COPD exacerbation or risk of hypercapnic respiratory failure affects the target saturation range and oxygen scale.

• NICE

  QS10: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Quality statements relevant where emergency oxygen is given during an acute exacerbation.

• Royal College of Physicians

  National Early Warning Score (NEWS2)(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Defines the oxygen saturation scales and monitoring response used when recording saturations against a prescribed target range.

• NICE

  CG50: Acutely ill adults in hospital — recognising and responding to deterioration(opens the original source in a new tab)

  Applies where deterioration recognition, monitoring frequency and escalation are relevant to the oxygen episode.

• Local policy

  Local oxygen prescribing, escalation and discharge oxygen policies

  Local oxygen prescribing and target saturation policy, ePMA/drug chart oxygen documentation guidance, observation and NEWS2 policy, deteriorating patient and escalation policy, respiratory review and outreach criteria, blood gas policy, weaning and discontinuation guidance, handover policy and discharge/home oxygen pathways define local thresholds, review intervals and required content. Confirm local policy before interpreting results.

• Designed to use anonymised or pseudonymised audit identifiers.
• This tool supports, but does not replace, clinical judgement.
• Local policy, formulary and specialist advice should be followed.
• Organisations remain responsible for local governance arrangements.
• This audit tool supports oxygen prescribing documentation review and quality improvement. It does not replace clinical judgement, local oxygen policy, respiratory guidance, prescribing guidance, emergency escalation pathways or specialist advice.
• Audit data alone cannot support conclusions about oxygen-related harm, preventability, causality, inappropriate prescribing, policy breach or professional misconduct.
• Target saturation ranges, review intervals, escalation criteria and discharge oxygen arrangements are set by national guidance and local policy and are not defined by this tool.
• Use anonymous case identifiers only — never patient-identifiable information.

Supporting guidance from the Lazomis QI Resource Library. Authoritative clinical standards referenced by this project remain separate.

• Clinical GovernanceIntegrating Quality Improvement into Clinical Governance FrameworksThis article explores the vital relationship between Quality Improvement (QI) and Clinical Governance within the NHS, demonstrating how they are two sides of the same coin when aiming for continuous, systematic improvement in patient care.
• Clinical GovernanceLeveraging Incident Themes for Quality Improvement and Patient SafetyThis guide helps NHS teams identify and analyse recurring incident themes, transforming reported safety events into practical quality improvement opportunities to enhance patient safety and system reliability.
• Quality ImprovementDocumenting PDSA Cycles for Effective Quality ImprovementThis guide provides practical advice on documenting Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, a crucial component of effective quality improvement in the NHS, ensuring learning is captured and shared.
• Quality ImprovementHow Many PDSA Cycles Does a Quality Improvement Project Need?This guide explains the iterative nature of PDSA cycles and offers practical advice for determining the appropriate number of cycles needed for effective quality improvement in NHS settings.