ABG Basics: An introduction into reading arterial blood gases

Arterial blood gases (ABG) are the gold standard for assessing oxygenation, ventilation, and acid-base disturbance. This booklet includes my steps to simply reading basic ABG’s. This booklet should not be used as the only means of learning ABG’s or for diagnosing oneself. These are the steps I use to teach introduction level ABG’s. I hope this will help you in laying a good foundation for more advanced ABG interpretation.