Pneumonia causes the air spaces in your lungs to fill with mucus. This means the oxygen you breathe doesn't get to your blood stream. It is important that the amount of oxygen in your blood be measured within 24 hours of your arrival at the hospital to see if you need oxygen therapy.

An oxygenation assessment can be done with a:

• Blood test to measure arterial blood gas, or
• Pulse oximetry, in which electrodes are attached to your finger, earlobe or a skin fold.

This measure reports what percent of patients with pneumonia had their blood/oxygen level measured.

A high score is better than a low score.

The chart above shows how Cedars-Sinai's performance on this measure compared with the top 10% of hospitals in the United States, the national average for hospitals, the top 10% of hospitals in California and the California average. These data reflect care given to patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from April through June 2007. The national and California data reflect care given to patients from April 2006 through March 2007.

Cedars-Sinai received the best possible score on this measure.