Arterial Blood Gases (ABGs) is a blood test in which a sample of blood is obtained from the artery and analyzed. We use arterial blood because we are trying to assess how well the lungs are oxygenating the blood as well as removing carbon dioxide from the blood. In other words, we are assessing how well the patient is oxygenating, and how well they are ventilating. An important concept to remember is this:

Oxygenation has to deal with oxygen (easy to remember right?)

Ventilation has to deal with carbon dioxide. If a patient is not ventilating well, they are not moving carbon dioxide out of the body.

Below you will find a PowerPoint that I have put together in order to better explain arterial blood gases, as well as the steps to interpret them.

There is also a good video that explains how to interpret ABGs. However, she takes it a littler further and talks about compensation. For our purposes, we are not going to worry about compensation, as it is not vital to what we are talking about.

Arterial Blood Gases (ABGs).pptx

ABGs (Arterial Blood Gas)