The following ABG results were obtained on a 54-year-old female patient that is breathing room air:
belongs to book: ABG PRACTICE QUESTIONS|Respiratory Therapy Zone|| Chapter number:1| Question number:10
All Answers
total answers (1)
belongs to book: ABG PRACTICE QUESTIONS|Respiratory Therapy Zone|| Chapter number:1| Question number:10
total answers (1)
Medicine
This is just a classic ABG interpretation question. You likely won’t see many of these on the TMC Exam because at this point, the NBRC will assume that you already know how to interpret ABGs. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made it this far.
With that said, you still absolutely MUST know how to interpret them because you will be required to do so for SEVERAL questions on the exam.
So now let’s interpret this one.
The pH decreased which means acidosis. The PaCO2 is increased and the Bicarb is in the normal range. This tells us that there respiratory acidosis with no compensation because the Bicarb is normal. The PaO2 is decreased as well, which tells us that there is hypoxemia. So we know that the correct answer is D.
The correct answer is: D. Acute uncompensated respiratory acidosis with mild hypoxemia
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