The American Burn Association (ABA), by joint recommendation of the Committees on Burn Prevention and Government Affairs, developed a position statement to educate the public on the importance of preventing burn injuries and deaths resulting from the use of home medical oxygen.
The ABA supports efforts to promote, enact, and sustain legislation and policies that support a multi-faceted approach to burn injury and fire prevention for users of home oxygen, with emphasis on encouraging:
- Patient education (and education of their families and caregivers) by health care providers about the hazards of home oxygen therapy in combination with smoking, including use of e-cigarettes and other electronic delivery systems
- Smoking cessation therapies
- Enhanced equipment safety by medical suppliers, including home safety checks, written safety instructions, and bidirectional thermal fuses in the oxygen tubing
- Support for clinician risk assessment regarding prescribing or continuing to prescribe home medical oxygen in patients, especially for those who smoke or who live with others who smoke
Read the full position statement on home oxygen burn prevention.
