A Systematic Approach to Capnography Waveforms

Capnography was first proposed for use in the operating room in 1978 and has since become the standard of care for monitoring ventilation.1 Capnography is rapidly growing in use for intubated and non-intubated applications across hospital environments including the ICU, resuscitation, procedural sedation, and postoperative monitoring of patients receiving opioid analgesia. 1,2 When used appropriately, capnography has been cited as meaningful in providing key, often life- sustaining, information in dozens of different clinical applications. These range from common indications such as monitoring for apneas, hypoventilation, hyperventilation, and airway integrity during procedural sedation or in postoperative patients; to monitoring ETT placement, quality of chest compression, and return of spontaneous circulation during resuscitation efforts; to screening for diabetic ketoacidosis, pulmonary embolism, bronchospasm, and even sepsis in the emergency setting.1-4 This value has led to capnography being recommended or required by over 80 clinical societies in over 100 guidelines, standards, and statements in just the past eight years. Despite the vast number of societal guidelines and clinical articles touting its value, I have met other clinicians who state they do not see much value in capnography. What’s the difference between these two groups? Does it work for some and not for others? Of course not. The difference is in their knowledge and ability to correctly apply and interp...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Exclusive Articles Patient Care Cardiac & Resuscitation Source Type: news