A 75-year-old man with a long history of severe acute chronic obstructive pulmon

Question

A 75-year-old man with a long history of severe acute chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is admitted to ED with fever, confusion and significant respiratory distress. He lives alone but his neighbor says he has been unwell for a week and has deteriorated over the previous 4 days. There is a long history of heavy smoking. ABG results are: pH 7.21 pCO2 70 mmHg pO2 75 mmHg HCO3 27 mmol/l 1. Again, the graduate nurse asks the preceptor to help with interpretation of the blood gases. How should the preceptor interpret these values and explain the reasons for the abnormal values?

Explanation / Answer

The preceptor would interpret these values and express the results as; high conc of carbon dioxide leading to high conc of bicarbonate and low pH. The possible cause is smoking.

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