The Cambridge Guide to Blood Gas (ABG) Interpretation

Are you confused by ABGs? Feel like there's no easy way in? Mixing up your acidoses and your alkaloses?

This course is aimed at all healthcare students and also any healthcare professionals who want to build their understanding of ABGs and build their confidence in interpreting them and making diagnoses.

When I was first taught about ABGs, I was taught by senior doctors who didn't understand what I did and didn't need to know. I developed this system for ABG interpretation and I have taught it to many other students at the University of Cambridge.

It works by building a first-principles understanding of what ABGs are, how they are performed, and the physiology underlying all the ABG abnormalities we might encounter. This allows us to intuitively understand the most confusing elements of ABGs, without having to rely on mnemonics and quick tricks. Patients don't fit into textbook definitions a lot of the time, and these shortcuts often fail in real life. Only by a deep, true understanding can we confidently tackle any ABG in or out of the exam hall.

Course structure:

• What is an ABG?

• How do we perform an ABG?

• What does the ABG report tell us?

• How to systematically interpret an ABG?

  • Context

  • Gas Exchange

  • Acid-Base Balance

• Worked Example of ABG Interpretation

• Practice exam: five examples of full ABG interpretations testing the whole course

• A deep dive into metabolic acidosis

  • Understanding and classifying the causes of metabolic acidosis

  • Renal tubular acidosis explained

Disclaimer:

This course is not affiliated with the University of Cambridge or any other official institution and its content should not be used as the basis of care of patients.