Blood Gases

emtAsh

emtAsh

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Tonight we are going over Blood Gases and I know some of yall will have tips on how to learn and remember the important things for Blood Gases. We are learning about it in AEMT thanks!-Any tips will be greatly appreciated!
 
The only real relevant thing you can get prehospitally is a measure of:

SpO2/SaO2

Through that you can usually ASSUME PaO2 in patients without certain pathologies.

Beyond that I can't see what they are really covering in your class?

Normal SpO2 is roughly 94-100%

Normal PaO2 is 80-100mmHg

By following the oxygen disassociation curve you can determine PaO2 based on SpO2.
 
a few good websites

Click on "Vents and ABGs"
http://www.icufaqs.org/

http://lifeinthefastlane.com/education/investigations-tests/acid-base/

Go over common scenarios in your head and figure out what the patient's ABGs will look like. Ex. You are called for an unresponsive patient, opiate OD breathing 6 times a minute. Will their pH be up or down? Will their bicarb levels change? What is their respiratory rate going to look like after you push that Narcan? Why is it going to be like that? What is that patient trying to do with that certain respiratory rate? Once you learn the basics you will understand this much better and will fly through scenarios like that without having to think about it.
 
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emtAsh said:
Tonight we are going over Blood Gases and I know some of yall will have tips on how to learn and remember the important things for Blood Gases. We are learning about it in AEMT thanks!-Any tips will be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

In learning pH balance remember this: ROME
Respiratory
Opposite
Metabolic
Equal.

Learn your value ranges.

Respiratory (PaCO2) works on pH quickly where metabolic (HCO3) take longer.

There are reasons why a PaCO2 will increase. There are reasons why it will decrease. Just like there are reasons HCO3 will increase and will decrease. They are not necessarily related. But they can all effect pH.

Charles' Gas Law still works even in blood. Meaning fever will make PaCO2 read higher thus lowering pH. Just like hypothermia will lower PaCO2 increasing pH.

Oxygenation and ventilation are not the same thing... ever... period.
 
Thanks everyone for tips
 
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