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What is hypoxia?
- Lower than normal oxygen pressure in the tissues or alveoli.
- What is hypoxemia?
- A low arterial blood oxygen pressure (<80 mm Hg).
- What is ventilation/perfusion abnormalities? (V/Q)
- The existence of ventilation or perfusion changes in the lungs that result in an abnormal ratio. An ideal ratio is 1.0, with ventilation equally balanced with perfusion to a lung unit.
- What is a shunt?
- A bypass between the righ (venous) and left (arterial) sides of the circulation. A right-toleft shunt results in the dilution of arterial blood oxygen content (CaO2) with venous blood. If left-to-right, CaO2 is not affected, but cardiac workload will increase.
- What is a diffusion defect?
- Abnormalities of lung tissue that prevent or inhibit the normal diffusion process of the molecular transfer of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) across the alveolar capillary membrane.
- What valuable information do ABGs provide about a patient? (2)
- 1) Oxygenation and ventilatory status
- 2) Acid-base status
- What are limitations of ABGs? (3)
- 1) An arterial blood gas value represents only one point in time.
- 2) Clinicians should look at trends in blood gas values rather than a single number.
- 3) Excessive blood sampling is a common practice and should be avoided.
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What are normal arterial blood gas values for the following? (Name arterial and venous)
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1)PCO2 (mm Hg)
- 2)pH
- 3)HCO3- (mEq/L)
- 1) 40 A 46 V
- 2) 7.40 A 7.37 V
- 3) 24 A 21 V
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