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Target oxygen saturation levels for most hospitalized patients is approximately 90% to 94%. Sat levels above 96% may be harmful in acutely ill patients. Comment: These sat levels are guidelines only, not rules, so flexibility needed. For example, COPD patients and those at risk for hypercapnic failure do best at lower sats, approx 88% to 92%. Some conditions such as carbon monoxide poisoning and sickle cell crisis call for high sats, i.e. close to 100%. In general, however, we tend to use too much supplemental oxygen, which may actually be harmful in some cases. BMJ 2018 Oct 24; 363:k4169. (https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k4169)    (retrieved Feb, 2020). There are currently 1090 pearls in the database. While every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy, mistakes can and do occur. Use databank at your own risk. All pearls © 2024 by the Internet Medical Association. Click Here to view more medical pearls.