Blood Gas Lab
The blue-lipped regular
coreA 71-year-old with severe COPD attends clinic feeling his usual self.
Blood gas
pH7.36
PaCO262 mmHg
HCO334 mmol/L
PaO262 mmHg
No high/low cues on purpose: read the numbers the way the gas machine prints them.
Stepwise interpretation
Commit to your own read first: pH, primary process, compensation, gap, delta, oxygenation. Then walk the engine’s steps and see where you agree.