PulmCrit (EMCrit)
PulmCrit - November 2, 2016 - By Josh Farkas
"For patients with an adequate oximetry waveform, pulse oximetry is usually superior to ABG for measuring oxygenation.
The top ten reasons for this are:
- Saturation is a more direct measurement of tissue oxygen delivery than PaO2.
- ABG is a painful and expensive test.
- One ABG typically leads to a cascade of ABGs, multiplying costs and blood loss.
- ABGs may be contaminated with venous blood.
- Point-of-care ABG monitors calculate oxygen saturation, rather than measuring it directly.
- Obtaining an ABG may delay management.
- PaO2 values are easily misunderstood.
- Measuring the A-a gradient is over-utilized and potentially misleading.
- ABG only measures oxygenation at a single time point.
- Changes in PaO2 are widely misinterpreted."