Dutch Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses' Perceptions of Pulse Oximeter Saturation Target Limits for Preterm Infants

Purpose: To conduct a national survey to assess practice, knowledge, barriers, and perceptions regarding oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) target limits among Dutch neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses.

Design and methods: Cross-sectional, web-based survey among 667 nurses from 9 level 3 Dutch NICUs. Part of the questions were based on a clinical scenario (28-weeks preterm infant, treated with CPAP, FiO(2) 0.4).

Results: 328 (53.6%) nurses responded to the survey. Of these, 281 (85.7%) reported to know the local policy of SpO(2) target limits, and 261 (79.6%) and 244 (74.4%) rightly identified the lower and upper limit, respectively. Six NICUs recently increased their lower SpO(2) limit and for 62.0% of their nurses this led to a significant alarmincrease. For the majority of the respondents, the baby from the clinical scenario would spend

Conclusions: The majority of the respondents identified their unit's policy-specified SpO(2) target limits and reported that the increase in SpO(2) target limits may have led to more alarms. Titration of FiO(2) is a part of care that respondents were reluctant to share with parents.

Practice implications: A potential increase in the number of SpO(2) alarms may lead to alarm fatigue. Although family-centered care philosophy is widely accepted across Dutch NICUs, there are still barriers to overcome. (c) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.