Why this work matters

Medical oxygen is a life-saving essential medicine used throughout health care. Yet published literature across different care settings continues to identify gaps in oxygen access, clinical knowledge and practice, and health-system readiness.

Making Oxygen Therapy Visible™ approaches oxygen as both a clinical therapy and a system of care: something that must be clinically indicated, appropriately targeted, monitored and reassessed, reliably delivered, and supported by trained clinicians and functioning systems.

  • Knowledge and practice gaps persist across settings. Studies among nurses and other clinicians have identified gaps in knowledge and practice related to oxygen therapy 6,10,12,18,29,35,36. Education and improvement initiatives can strengthen oxygen practice when clinical learning is combined with protocols, reminders, appropriate equipment, audit and feedback, and attention to real clinical workflow 13,21,22,31,32.
  • Oxygen is a drug, and it needs a target. Oxygen should be given when clinically indicated and titrated to an appropriate oxygen-saturation target 3,24. Liberal or excessive oxygen exposure can also create risk in some patients and clinical contexts 8,9,27. Target ranges differ according to clinical context, including for patients at risk of hypercapnic respiratory failure, making appropriate monitoring and reassessment important 3,20,24. Implementation studies demonstrate how education, pulse oximetry, active titration, clinical decision support, and workflow-based stewardship can increase time within intended oxygen-saturation ranges and reduce unnecessary supplemental oxygen exposure 2,14,21.
  • SpO₂ is important, but it is only one part of respiratory assessment. Pulse oximetry provides essential information about oxygenation, but it does not directly measure ventilation, PaCO₂, work of breathing, or the underlying cause of deterioration 3,15. Pulse-oximetry measurements also have recognized limitations, including the potential to overestimate oxygen saturation in people with higher levels of skin pigmentation 26. SpO₂ should therefore be interpreted alongside respiratory rate and the broader clinical assessment rather than considered in isolation 1,3,15.
  • Respiratory rate is a high-value vital sign. Respiratory rate can provide early warning of deterioration, yet its measurement in acute care is vulnerable to omission, estimation, inconsistent counting methods, and workflow pressures 23. Strengthening accurate respiratory-rate assessment alongside SpO₂ can support recognition of clinical change and escalation of care 1,15,16,23.
  • Oxygen delivery is also a system and workflow problem. Oxygen therapy can be disrupted during transport or through problems involving oxygen sources, empty tanks, equipment setup, flow, and handoffs 4,11. Human-factors and quality-improvement research demonstrate that safe oxygen care depends on how clinical work actually occurs, not only on how policies and protocols describe it, and that improvement is more likely to be sustained when oxygen management is embedded into routine clinical workflows 21,32.
  • Global oxygen resilience depends on more than oxygen supply. Medical oxygen security depends on an interconnected system that includes oxygen production and supply, pulse oximetry and other monitoring, delivery equipment, maintenance, trained health workers, clinical practice, and reliable distribution 17,33. Strengthening oxygen systems therefore requires coordinated investment across infrastructure, equipment, transport, maintenance, clinical training, monitoring, and health-system capacity 17,28,34. Nurses should be deliberately included in this work because of their central role in direct oxygen care, monitoring, titration, and reassessment 5,21.
  • Using oxygen wisely is also a resource-stewardship issue. Medical oxygen has measurable environmental impacts across its production and supply chain, while unnecessary or poorly targeted oxygen use consumes a clinically important resource without corresponding patient benefit 25,30. Quality-improvement work also suggests that nurse-engaged oxygen stewardship can reduce time outside prescribed saturation targets and decrease oxygen consumption 21.
  • Climate-ready health care requires resilient oxygen systems. Climate change is increasing health risks and can place additional pressure on health services through extreme heat, wildfire smoke, deteriorating air quality, and other climate-related events 7. Health systems increasingly need to strengthen both climate adaptation and resilience 19. Applied to oxygen care, this means building systems that can keep assessment, monitoring, equipment, supply, and clinical delivery reliable when demand rises or normal operations are disrupted 17,34.

Learn • Participate • Improve care

Choose how you want to take part

Making Oxygen Therapy Visible™ includes individual clinical learning, group Lunch & Learns, an optional Clinical Champion pathway, and hospital-level quality-improvement work.

For nurses

One-on-one MOTV

Free 45-minute virtual clinical learning session via Google Meet.

Join a Conserve Medical Clinical Programs Coordinator for a one-on-one session focused on oxygen therapy in your practice.

The session combines evidence-based learning, clinical discussion and reflection.

45 minutes Virtual One-on-one
Explore nurse training

MOTV Clinical Champion Certificate

Nurses who want to go further can complete the optional follow-up learning, reflection, brief scenario-based assessment, and feedback. Participants who complete the pathway and meet eligibility requirements may receive a MOTV Clinical Champion Certificate.

The certificate recognizes completion of the MOTV learning pathway and is not a professional licence or specialty certification.

For groups

Lunch & Learn

A 30-minute group introduction to the core concepts.

Conserve Medical Lunch & Learns introduce key oxygen-therapy concepts while participants work through interactive questions together during the session.

Sessions may be offered in person at hospitals, schools, conferences and other organizations, or virtually. If you are joining a scheduled session, use the finder below to locate your Lunch & Learn.

30 minutes Group session In person or virtual
View upcoming events

Find your Lunch & Learn

Search by organization, hospital, city, session name, or type virtual. As more sessions are added, this list can grow without changing the page layout.

No matching Lunch & Learn is listed here yet. Check upcoming events or contact Conserve Medical.

Looking for an upcoming virtual session?
Virtual Lunch & Learns are offered alongside in-person sessions. Check the Events page for newly scheduled dates.

View Events

For hospitals and health systems

Improve oxygen care at the system level

A hospital can start with a Lunch & Learn, explore the Visible Oxygen Care Site™ (VOCS), or discuss a hospital-based oxygen-therapy quality-improvement project.

Host a Lunch & Learn

Bring a 30-minute MOTV group session to your hospital, unit, team or organization.

Email to discuss

Explore VOCS

Learn about the Visible Oxygen Care Site™ and an organization-level approach to strengthening oxygen care.

Email to discuss

Explore a QI project

Discuss oxygen therapy as a potential hospital-based quality-improvement opportunity.

Email to discuss

References

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