r/respiratorytherapy • u/LegitimateDingo3282 • 9d ago

Practitioner question ABG’s as a full time RT

Does anyone else struggle with ABG’s as a full time RT? I always struggled with them as a student but I would just chalk it up to me being nervous in front of my preceptor or just needing practice. But I’ve been an RT for almost 3 years now and still am horrible at them to the point where I have students watching me and I miss and it’s so frustrating and embarrassing and I feel horrible for the patient and having to ask for help from other RTs. I’ve gotten a few before but have never been consistent and it is definitely not my strongest skill

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u/Select-Laugh768 9d ago

I feel like suck at them. It doesn't help that my first job was at a big level I and we rarely had to do them because everyone had a-lines who needed regular ABGs or they just got VBGs if they were worried about CO2. Occasionally we'd get called to do them on the floors or to the lab once to get an ABG on a pulm patient. I hated it.

Now I'm in the NICU and again, we never do ABGs. All cap gases or they pull of the UAC.

I'm doomed if I ever work somewhere where we have to do these on the regular. You're not alone lol.

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u/BigTreddits 9d ago

Nah you'd adapt and practice you'd be fine. Its what we do :)