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Capnography for Critical Care Nurses

Essentials of Capnography

The lecture duration is 34min.

0.75 CPD Points, 0.75 CEUs, 0.75 CME credits approval pending.
Accredited by CPDUK, CBRN and Provider Pending.

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Thomas Ahrens
Nurse, researcher, and educator at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, USA
Lecture Summary

Capnography has the unique ability to aid clinicians in assessing both ventilation and blood flow. In this program, a review of the physiology that allows exhaled CO2 to monitor ventilation and perfusion is presented. The emphasis in this program is using capnography to prevent over-sedation and monitoring of blood flow. Due to the ability to assess both ventilation and perfusion, capnography has been called the “15-second vital sign”. The use of capnography is likely to quickly grow throughout the hospital and even into pre-hospital settings.

Target Audience

Critical Care Nurses
Trainee Critical Care Doctors
Emergency Medicine Doctors and Nurses

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this activity, you should be able to:

  • Recall the relationship between PaCO2 and PetCO2 levels
  • Discuss how the reason why capnography is a rapid assessment of inadequate ventilation and perfusion
  • Discuss how capnography can reflect a patient at risk for over-sedation
  • Describe the 4 key applications of capnography in patient monitoring

None.