A recent study has shown that the common practice of giving supplemental oxygen provides no benefit to those suffering acute heart attacks and in fact may actually increase their risk for adverse outcomes. While the sample size is too small to provide definitive evidence for avoiding supplemental O2 following MI, it does provide another reminder of how few medical practices are supported by solid research.

We live in an era when medical information is readily available, for example the Cochran Collaboration publishes regular reviews of the efficacy of medical practices.  However, we all have a tendency to believe what we believe because we believe it.  Clinicians can be guilty of this as well.  Hopefully, the influence of evidence based medicine will push more clinicians toward a critical examination of the treatments they use. It would also be nice if their patients would expect (demand?) a bit more critical thought as well.