Venous pH can safely replace arterial pH in the initial evaluation of patients in the emergency department

Abstract

Objective - This study aims to determine the extent of correlation of arterial and venous pH with a view to identifying whether venous samples can be used as an alternative to arterial values in the clinical management of selected patients in the emergency department. Methods - This prospective study of patients who were deemed by their treating doctor to require an arterial blood gas analysis to determine their ventilatory or acid-base status, compared pH on an arterial and a venous sample taken as close to simultaneously as possible. Data were analysed using Pearson correlation and bias (Bland-Altman) methods. Results - Two hundred and forty six patients were entered into the study; 196 wi..