Blood Sampling from a Pulmonary Artery Catheter
PREREQUISITE NURSING KNOWLEDGE
• Knowledge of sterile technique is needed.
• Knowledge of cardiovascular and pulmonary anatomy and physiology is necessary.
• Gas exchange and acid-base balance should be understood.
• Technique for specimen collection and labeling should be known.
• Principles of hemodynamic monitoring need to be understood.
• Knowledge about the care of patients with pulmonary artery catheters (see Procedure 73) and stopcock manipulation (see Procedure 76) is needed.
• The most frequent blood specimen obtained from the pulmonary artery is one for mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) analysis.
• SvO2 measures the oxygen saturation of the venous blood in the pulmonary artery (see Procedure 16).
• SvO2 samples are obtained to calibrate the equipment when continuously monitoring SvO2 values.
• Routine blood sampling from the pulmonary artery catheter is not recommended because entry into the sterile system may increase the incidence of catheter-related infection.
EQUIPMENT
• Goggles or fluid shield face mask
• Needleless blood sampling access device
Additional equipment to have available as needed includes the following:
