JOURNAL ARTICLE
MULTICENTER STUDY
OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Emergency Department Blood Gas Utilization and Changes in Ventilator Settings.

Respiratory Care 2018 January
BACKGROUND: Mechanically ventilated patients increasingly spend hours in emergency department beds before ICU admission. This study evaluated the performance of blood gases in mechanically ventilated subjects in the emergency department and subsequent changes to mechanical ventilation settings.

METHODS: This was a multi-center, prospective, observational study of subjects ventilated in the emergency department, conducted at 3 academic emergency departments from July 2011 to March 2013. We measured the rate of arterial blood gas (ABG) and venous blood gas (VBG) analysis, and we assessed the associations between the conditions of hypoxemia, hyperoxia, hypercapnia, or acidemia and changes to mechanical ventilator settings.

RESULTS: Of 292 ventilated subjects, 17.1% did not have a blood gas sent in the emergency department. Ventilator changes were made significantly more frequently for subjects who had an ABG as the initial blood gas sent in the emergency department (odds ratio 2.70, 95% CI 1.46-4.99, P = .002). However, findings of hypoxemia, hyperoxia, hypercapnia, or acidemia were not correlated with ventilator adjustments.

CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective observational study of subjects mechanically ventilated in the emergency department, the majority had a blood gas checked while in the emergency department. While ABGs were associated with having changes made to ventilator settings in the emergency department, clinical findings of hypoxemia, hyperoxia, hypercapnia, and acidemia were not. Inattention to blood gas results may lead to missed opportunities in guiding ventilator changes in the emergency department.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app